The Scarlet Flash
by EvilTyrannicGoddess
Summary: She's the best in the business. Fast. Strong. Agile. Talented. But then again, that's to be expected of Fiore's greatest assassin, the Scarlet Flash. That is, until a blue-haired man with a quick tongue and an even quicker blade crosses her path. A/U. Violence and lemon.
1. Prologue

**Hi there everyone~! I'm EvilTyrannicGoddess :) **

**This is my first ever fanfiction (Yay!). It's rated M for a reason, meaning it will contain violence, gore, lemon, sexual references, horrible language and anything else bad that I feel like including along the way XD As such, if you don't like any of these things, I wouldn't recommend reading ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you ;D**

**Hiro Mashima-sama owns all of the characters that will be in this fic. I wish I owned them (particularly Jellal) but unfortunately I don't T^T **

**Anyway, here is the prologue to the series... just a little story to get the ball rolling. I hope you like it, and... yeah... Nothing much else to say XP**

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Small trails of blood dripped from her calloused fingertips as she scaled the brick wall that ran upwards far above her, aiming for the west-facing window of the third storey. The night wind that howled all around her should have picked up and wildly whipped her hair, but she had purposely collected it into a tight bun at the back of her head and covered it with a dark cap to avoid that. Despite how cold it was, she actually didn't mind the gale blowing straight into her eyes -the only exposed part of her body- as loud winds are always advantageous when one is trying to sneak up on somebody as quietly as possible. Sure, it wasn't like she'd be heard anyway, silent as she was, but it never failed to have as much assistance as possible.

Reaching up as far as she could, she hooked her fingers in between the cracked mortar of the brickwork, using them to quickly pull herself up a little higher, the grip she had attached to the soles of her shoes allowing her to cling to the wall almost cohesively. Just a little further and her hand came into contact with the jutting edge of the windowsill she was climbing towards, providing her with the proper handhold she needed to hoist herself up and onto the narrow ledge, her breath that normally would have fogged the glass blocked by the bandanna that was tied around her face.

She carefully reached out and gave the window a gentle shove, but the frame refused to budge even a millimetre. Locked, it would seem. _Hmmmmm..._

Shifting just enough so that she could reach the small bag on her back without compromising her position, she grabbed the two small lock-picks always on her person and proceeded to slot them into the tiny keyhole keeping the window in place. The first was just a small tension wrench to turn the lock as the key would, though the second she carefully used to feel out the set of pins within the lock, slowly pushing each individual spring upwards just as Lucy had taught her.

With a small click, she carefully turned the wrench, smiling when the lock gave way and opened, the glass swinging inwards with a low creak. Slipping her picks away, she moved forward and slowly slid down onto the royal blue carpet below.

The room she found herself in was elegant beyond compare, though, she supposed that was to be expected of a rich businessman such as Bora. Swirled wallpaper lined every inch of the walls, stopping only where the intricately carved ceiling began and swept over her head, painted deities and angels staring down at her through unseeing eyes.

Only two noises could be heard in the room. The first came from the huge grandfather clock in the corner, the large pendulum in the mahogany frame releasing a strong _tock-tock_ with every swing.

The second came from the clocks owner himself, who, curled up in the king-sized bed that dominated the room, chose at that moment to release a huge snore, drawing her attention from the splendour of the room and back to what she was actually meant to be doing in it...

_"Bora. Bora of Prominence." Master Makarov lay a red request sheet down on the desk in front of him, allowing her to glimpse at the picture of the man plastered on the front. "He used to be a member of the Titan Nose guild before a side business he was overseeing suddenly took off, causing him to leave the guild to devote his full efforts to it. Turns out this "side business" is kidnapping young women to sell in Bosco as sex slaves." Makarov paused to turn a heated glare towards the wall of his office. "The Council has been trying to track him down for at least half a year now, but he has a large group of thugs under his command and employs a number of aliases, making him... difficult to find. It seems they're coming to us now, red request and all. I told them I'd get this sorted as soon as possible, and that's why I'm requesting that you take this job. Find and put an end to this bastard once and for all."_

_"Yes, Master."_

Sticking to the shadows at the side of the room, she crept silently to the side of Bora's bed, fingers sweeping the hilt of the blade that was strapped tightly to her thigh. Back pressed tightly against the wall, she drew the knife from its sheath, twirling it quickly between her fingers and loving the familiar feel of the metal in her palm.

To take someone's life whilst they were sleeping was not her ideal job, but then again it was a red request, and jobs such as these were often given to her specifically because the Master knew she could do what needed to be done. As such, she tried not to picture the slumbering man in front of her as just that, a man. Instead, she looked at the monster; the beast who had stolen young girls from their families and forced them to travel far away, sold them to other horrific people who would do other things she didn't even want to try and picture. It was with this mindset and she kicked off from the wall, launching herself up into the air and over the bed.

Using the weight of her body she drove her knife straight down into Bora's chest, the man's eyes flying open as soon as the blade connected and woke him.

Surprisingly, he didn't scream, as many did. Rather, he grinned almost sickeningly at her, the expression all the more disturbing due to the blood that began to spill from his mouth, running over his teeth and chin.

"You... you bastard," he spat, chest heaving as blood began to pool out and around the handle of the blade. "Just... because... you got me... doesn't mean... anything. There are... far more... where I came... from."

Eyes shining from beneath her bandanna, she drew Bora's death warrant from the folds of her clothes and held it before him.

"Bora of Prominence. By the command of the Council I have been bequeathed the right to carry out your immediate execution. Through this-"

Bora interrupted her with a dry laugh. "The Council thinks... some man... can kill me... and it'll just... magically end... everything?" He sniggered as his head sank back onto his pillow, the once-white silk now running red with his blood.

She didn't know if it was the fact that such a disgusting man seemed so confident so close to death, or if it was because he had just assumed that the person perched on his chest was male, but something caused her to sit up and grab at the cloth concealing her face, removing it and tearing off her dark cap to allow her scarlet hair to pool down over him. As her tresses caressed his cheeks Bora's eyes widened slightly at the beauty glaring down at him like an angel from hell.

Yanking her knife viciously out of his chest and hearing him gasp in pain, she lowered herself over him and put her mouth to his ear.

"It's lucky for the Council then, that I am no man."

Bora gave a small chuckle once more, which slowly turned into a gurgle as his eyes began to roll upwards into his skull and his fingers twitched at his sides, trying to find purchase on the soft sheets. As she moved herself up and off of him, his chest finally stopped rising, an eerie silence settling into the room until the loud gonging of the grandfather clock finally made it's way back into her reality.

Ignoring the corpse saturating the bed, she moved to the desk on the other side of the room and pulled the fanciest quill she could find from its ink well. The bottom of the red sheet was always purposely left for her to fill out at times like these, and pausing for only a second to skim the blank sections, she lowered her pen to the paper.

Job status. _Complete._

Date of completion. _April 29th, X784._

Responsible guild. _Fairy Tail. _

Responsible person/s.

She paused for another second before re-dipping the pen into the ink pot and signing her name with a flourish.

_The Scarlet Flash, Titania Erza._

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**Well, there you have it :3 **

**I hope you liked it... I know nothing about the plot or characters has really been opened up, but I wanted to introduce sort of the mood/theme of the fic I am writing here. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the Fairy Tail guild :D Yay! Gotta love Fairy Tail ^_^**

**Please rate and review. I would love to hear anything you have to say!**

**Thanks,**

**EvilTyrannicGoddess.**


	2. The Second Floor

**FUOH~! Hey everyone, I'm back (finally) with chapter 1 :) Sorry for the wait, I actually finished this last night, but it was rather late and I didn't want to publish because I was certain I would have screwed up somewhere. Checking over this morning, I think it was a good move. **

**Thank you to those who left a comment ^_^ They make me happy :)**

***fflover80: Hahaha XD Gotta love them JellalErza lemons :3 I already have a few planned, though you may have to wait a bit to see them. Jellal will appear soon though, so hopefully you look forward to that ;D**

***Toy. Story: Thank you for your kind words, I hope you like this chapter~!**

***severedserenity: Here you go! I hope you like it ^_^**

**Mashima-sama owns all! D; *cry cry cry***

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If Erza Scarlet had to describe life, she would use the term 'fickle'. It wasn't that she wanted to see it that way, in fact, she was rather fond of those who could describe it as 'beautiful' or 'unique', however since her entrance into the second floor of Fairy Tail, just how easily life could be changed -or ended- seemed to be the only thing she could contemplate whenever the subject was brought up.

It was due to this that she seemed to have another sort of... disorder? (should she call it that?) It wasn't that she wanted to, but she found that whenever she had the chance, her mind would wander and she would start to judge random people as she saw them...

...and figure out exactly how they were going to die.

Was that normal for someone of her occupation? She didn't know, and then again, she wasn't about to ask anyone. She didn't think something like "Oh, hey, do often think about how everyone is going to die?" would sit too well if dropped randomly into a conversation, so she kept it to herself.

That didn't stop her from doing it, of course.

It was just reaching dawn when she arrived back in Magnolia. Despite the towns usual clutter of people, the early morning frost kept everyone inside until later in the day during this time of the year, which was good for a lone woman trying to walk through the town without being seen. She had naturally ditched her skin-tight black clothing in favour of a travellers coat, pants and cloak, and her scarlet hair hung free to her waist, swaying with every step that she took.

Her victim, for today, was the only other person who seemed to be out so early: a man in his mid-forties (she speculated) who appeared to be heading in the same direction as her. She had spent the first half of the walk through town analysing how he could die of natural causes and come up with quite an impressive list, but had since moved on to how she would kill him if she ever had to.

He was short and stocky for one thing. _He should be slow. Move as quickly as you can and stay behind him. Use his largeness to your advantage. _However, his forearms were beefed with thick bands of muscle. _He most likely works carrying heavy loads around in front of himself. He could probably throw a good punch just due to the sheer size of his arms. Stay away from them or take them out first. Then aim for his vitals. _

Alive bulky man one minute, dead bulky man the next. Yes, life was definitely fickle.

She was forced to stop her death-pondering a few minutes later when the man suddenly turned off of the main street to head in another direction, leaving her to walk the rest of the town alone. From her position, she could already see the mass that was the guild on the other side of town. Out of habit, she hastily checked that none of her weapons were visible in plain sight. The transition from when she worked to when she travelled was absolutely mandatory, as, at least as far as Magnolia was concerned, merchant guild Fairy Tail was just that, a merchants guild.

That wasn't to say that it wasn't. The entire lower storey of Fairy Tail was actually that: a guild that would take on any trade, transportation or handy man jobs that anyone had to offer.

No, it was the second floor of Fairy Tail that was much, much more interesting.

It was also the second floor that, according to everyone besides the Council and those who worked there, didn't actually exist. How could it? A guild that specialised in taking on requests from the Council when they were either too hard or too dirty for them to involve themselves in, or, worst of all, too against the law for the Council to deal with. No, she didn't think that would go over well with the people of Fiore, if they ever found out.

Despite it all though, she still loved the Fairy Tail guild as if it were her real family, which, she guessed in many ways, it was.

The guild hall stood at the very edge of Magnolia, right where the sea and the land met. Erza had always liked that about the guild, that it could stand tall and proud as a protector of Magnolia but wasn't consumed by the clustered business that was often found in the centre of the town. Despite being over a block away she could already hear the ever-constant string of noise that echoed from the building; even at this hour in the morning there was activity. No doubt Mirajane had already arrived and fired up the guild ovens to begin serving breakfast, and those who had returned from overnight jobs, such as she, or those whose jobs required them to be across the country by midday would already be up and about. Adjusting her cloak so that she looked not a wrinkle out of place, she finally reached the guilds entrance and pushed open the two huge oak doors.

"It's Erza!"

"Erza's returned!"

"Another mission complete, eh Erza?"

She smiled as those inside all instantly converged on her location, grins plastered to their faces like they always were when one of the family came home. It was only Mirajane, from her spot behind the bar, who gave her a pointed nod; she returned it quickly to properly relate that everything was in fact fine. Because... well... that was the other thing about the Fairy Tail guild: out of everyone who worked there, only about 20% knew about the second floor and the real workings that happened there. As far as the other 80% was concerned, the mission she had just returned from was one of her usual ones: being a bodyguard for VIP's or patrolling special museums and events.

Finally stepping over the threshold and parting the sea of people in her wake, she began to make her way towards the second floor, fingers brushing the knotted wood of the huge tabletops that filled the main section of the hall, each completely covered with tools, craft objects, trading papers and anything else that the members could need to complete their jobs. For the most part, many members were hired for repair works, transportation of cargo or to make art pieces on demand. As such, one of the most anticipated times of the year was Magnolia's annual Harvest Festival, where the guild and many others in the town would spend an entire weekend setting up stalls and selling goods between each other. There were times, especially during the festival, that she regretted not really being a part of the main section of the guild. She wasn't the type of person who could create gorgeous pieces of art, nor did she have the time or patience for many of the handy-man jobs the others accepted. It was mostly due to that that she confined herself to the second floor, only taking on jobs from the hidden request board up the stairs, rather than interacting with the others down here. It was also likely due to this that the others didn't act around her as they did with the others she worked with on the second floor. Whilst people like Natsu, Gray or Juvia were often out and doing jobs similar to hers, when they returned everyone always seemed a bit more... friendly. They would pat them on the back or drag them off to display their latest work or all sorts of things that had never really been done to her before. Sure, everyone was nice to her, but she supposed that they all saw her more as the guilds scary disciplinarian. Erza couldn't really blame them, she did have a habit of getting things into order (perhaps with a bit of force) but if she didn't do it, then who would?

She had almost made it to the staircase on the other side of the hall when her eyes caught one of the tables in the corner, where a glass rose sat twinkling in the morning sunlight pouring through the window.

_Gray._ He must have returned from the mission he set out on a few days ago and been at work on it for hours ever since. She was about to reach down and pluck it from the table to inspect it further when a sharp hissing from nearby stopped her.

"Ahhhhh... don't touch it!" Lucy's blonde hair swung back and forth as she shook her head swiftly from side to side. "He blew his stack at the last person who tried to pick it up."

"You don't say," she replied, moving away from the sculpture to sit opposite her friend, who placed the lock and pick she was holding down onto the tabletop.

The blonde let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah. It's not finished you see, so he's very overprotective." Following Lucy's pointed finger, Erza spotted the other half of the flower that had previously been facing away from her. Whilst the side she had seen had been meticulously chipped away at to add facets to the surface and bring the flower to life, the other half was still smooth as silk, yet to be fully rendered into a masterpiece. Still, she had to hand it to Gray: it was lovely. She had always been slightly jealous of his gorgeous hobby, but then again, that was the sort of skill one learned after training for years under Fiore's best glassblower. Well, former best. It made her sort of sad that Gray had another way of using his talents, whilst she was stuck with only her gift for... second floor jobs... and death predictions.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Lucy cleared her throat and she realised she has just been staring off into space.

"So... Um... Did everything go okay?" Lucy dropped her voice as silent as it could go as she continued. "Did you get that monster?"

Erza merely gave a soft smile and nodded in return, watching as Lucy accepted that and leant back. They would discuss it further on the second floor with the others later, where their chances of being overheard were greatly reduced.

"I got a chance to use my picks though," she continued, watching as Lucy's eyes suddenly lit up at the familiar topic. It surprised her a bit, that a girl such as Lucy could have a hobby that many considered to be quite low. In fact, Erza could still remember the day that Lucy had first arrived at the guild with Natsu, the boy insisting that she had saved his ass by helping him pick the lock of the chains an enemy had bound him in. She had never believed that the daughter of one of the richest men in Fiore could be a master lockpicker. So it seemed did the rest of the guild, until Lucy, determined to prove herself, had broken into her fathers bank, cracked her way into his vault and robbed him blind, subsequently sending both him and his company into bankruptcy. It was ever since that day that Lucy had been one of them. Nobody seemed to care about her lack of fighting prowess; just the fact that she could get herself into any building, box or lock that tickled her fancy made her irreplaceable, and Erza herself had learnt so much when she had gotten to properly know the girl. The Council seemed to take an interest into her abilities too, as the blonde was often recruited to steal back valuable items from the very thieves who stole them from museums and houses in the first place.

"What kind of lock was it?" Lucy piped in, her interest obviously piqued.

"Oh, you know, just one of those simple ones that-"

**"EVERYONE GET DOWN!"**

If Erza had not grown used to it over the years, she never would have been able to fling herself to the ground in time. However, years of putting up with her pink-haired friends antics had conditioned her to such situations, and she hit the floor just as an explosion ripped through the second storey of the guild above her head, a dark-haired figure being flung out backwards from the new hole in the wall shortly afterwards.

"You bastard!" Gray yelled, crashing through one of the tabletops as he fell to the first floor. "What the hell was that for?"

"That's my line pervert!" Natsu roared back, appearing in the clearing cloud of smoke on the balcony above. His usually unruly appearance only seemed more bedraggled by the large amount of black marker that had been scribbled over his face, no doubt the handiwork of Gray.

"That's what you get for touching my stuff flame-brain! It doesn't mean you get to just blow me up in return!"

"Eh? You mad that I touched that..." Natsu took a moment to eye the glass rose on the table next to Erza with a quizzical expression. "That... scrunched up bit of paper you made?"

"It's a rose you blind idiot!" Gray yelled back, getting up from the rubble of the once-table below him and seemingly losing his shirt at the same time.

"Like I could tell. Maybe that's why I wanted a closer look." Seeing Gray standing, Natsu slowly reached into his back pockets and pulled out a few more of his small hand-made bombs. "You didn't have to get so pissy."

"I'll get pissy at whoever the hell I want!" With one fluid motion, Gray drew two glass knives from his sides; had Erza not been familiar with them and where he kept them on his person, she would have sworn that he had conjured them from nothing. Natsu grinned like a feral cat from above and shifted his stance, probably ready to dive-bomb Gray from the roof.

If they had been somewhere else, with different people and perhaps with a better reason for such things, Erza might not have minded watching this fight continue. Gray was a genius when it came to fighting with any small sort of weapon that he could hold in either hand, such as knives or sais. He crafted them all himself, and all out of glass. The problem with glass weapons was that they had the potential to shatter easily if attacked directly, though Gray made them as tough as hell. This, combined with the fact that they were light and incredibly difficult to see in a fast-paced battle made Gray almost unstoppable. Unstoppable to all but herself in fact, Erza being one of the few who could beat him in his element.

Natsu himself was a formidable foe, though his talent came from his unorthodox fighting style, which, combined with his love for fiery explosives made him unpredictable and almost certainly crazy. It was hard to believe that someone like Natsu could sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time, though whenever the hot-head had a chance to, he would work away for hours trying to perfect his unstable weapons. She had to admit, he was good at what he did, though he had still yet to defeat her in a fight too, even when he did the unthinkable and tried to team with Gray. That had been a tough match, but she had just scraped through.

Despite this, they were not some place else, they were not alone and the circumstances weren't different. They were in the middle of the guild, it was a petty fight, and already more people than necessary had begun to approach, trying to see what all the fuss was about. She guessed it was time to intervene.

"GRAY FULLBUSTER! How DARE you walk around the guild half naked destroying things! And you," she turned her steely gaze onto Natsu. "Are you trying to blow up the guild?"

"Trying?" Gray stated unbelievingly, pointing to the huge hole that Natsu had blasted earlier, whilst Natsu, finally seeming to realise her presence, lost his footing with a sharp squeal and fell from the balcony, landing squarely on top of his former enemy below.

"Get off me you..." Gray suddenly turned his eyes quickly in her direction. "...you... you great friend of mine."

"Thanks _buddy_." Natsu gave Gray a punch to the shoulder that was obviously harder than necessary, earning a glare from the glassblower. He then turned as the sound of tinkling filled the hall, moving just in time as a small blue cat bolted down from the second floor and jumped into his lap, happily licking his face.

Erza smiled. It seemed that someone -probably Mirajane- had decided to strap a pair of small costume angel wings to the felines back, making him look like he could try and take flight at any moment. She had never understood how a cat such as Happy could have such a personality -or be blue, for that matter- but the cat had earned the love of the guild ever since Natsu had shown up with it as a boy; she did have to admit though that it had the strangest habit of turning up behind you with an almost smile-like expression when it caught you doing something you shouldn't be.

"Hey pal, I'm okay." Natsu smiled, playfully ruffling Happy's head as the cat meowed. As soon as Erza forced her focus away from the duo she spotted the rest of the guild still standing around, slightly open-mouthed at the sudden turn of events.

"What're you all staring at!? Get your asses back to work!" she screamed, prompting them all to quickly shuffle off with scared expressions. As soon as their backs were turned she marched straight to Gray and Natsu, grabbing them both by the ear and dragging them up to the second floor.

She dumped them unceremoniously onto one of the couches before pointing to the damage that Natsu had caused earlier.

"What the hell was that!? Do you want the entire guild to start questioning what goes on up here?" She placed a shaking hand over her forehead to try and calm herself. "I seriously don't understand you two sometimes. Smarten up, okay?"

Gray pulled himself from the couch and began to head back towards the stairs, spitting an "_I _will if _he _does", which he quickly changed to an "Of course, whatever you say!" when her glare-from-hell followed him.

Natsu was purposely trying not to look her in the eye, which meant that he was annoyed at her for scolding him, but didn't want to fight her about it. When he promptly stood and headed off towards the other side of the second floor, she sighed and made her way towards Master Makarov's office, keen to report her successful mission with Bora. She passed the request board laden with green and yellow requests, and soon arrived at his office door, reaching out to tap quickly three times. With a conformational grunt echoing from inside, she invited herself in.

"Master?"

Makarov's eyes jumped from the document in his hand to her as he heard her voice. "Ah, Erza. Perfect timing. I take it that job went okay?"

"Of course." She reached back into her cloak and drew the crinkled red sheet from the folds, setting it down on the desk in front of him. "No hassles... as usual."

The Master scanned the sheet once over before smiling. "Excellent. The Council will be happy to know that that is sorted. Thank you for doing that." Refolding the sheet once more, he moved to the left side of his desk and filed it into the top draw.

"It was nothing." Bowing her head slightly, she turned to leave before Makarov's voice halted her.

"Actually, Erza. Come sit for a minute. I'm sorry, but I need to ask you for another favour."

_Huh? _Quickly brushing her shirt down, Erza strode back across the room and settled in the chair opposite Makarov, trying to find meaning in his eyes to what was going on.

"No need to be cautious Erza. I actually have another job for you. I'm sorry, but it came in this morning... and... well, it's quite serious." Reaching down to the stack of papers in front of him, Makarov pulled a red piece of paper from the pile, handing it to her.

"Do you recognize this?"

Erza scanned the sheet for a few seconds. Indeed, there was something about it that struck her as familiar, yet she couldn't put her finger on it. "I- I have a feeling that I do, but I'm not sure where I saw it."

Makarov leant back in his chair. "That's because up until today, that request was a green request."

"_What?_" She suddenly sat forward more, re-reading the page with increased interest. There were only three types of requests that could be brought to the second floor of the Fairy Tail guild. The most popular were the yellow requests, those jobs that the Council needed to be completed at some point in time, but with no urgency involved. They ranged from anything like capturing criminals for arrest to finding lost items that the Council needed to track down. In most cases they weren't that hard, nor that highly rewarded. More serious than the yellow jobs were the red ones. Red requests indicated that the killing of a person would be involved in some way or another, and were limited usually to very serious scenarios, where failure to complete the request could result in the death of many innocent people and the Council was forced to act. Erza had been on many red requests in her time on the second floor, but never had she seen a green request suddenly become red. This was because green requests were usually trivial matters. They were issues that townspeople posed to the Council, which were then approved and put to the guilds. In most cases they were village concerns; perhaps a wild animal stealing farm animals or a missing family heirloom that wanted to be found. In fact, most of the time they could even be things that those on the first floor could take as jobs, though they were limited to the second floor usually because the person issuing them had their reasons for wanting the job to be on the down low. However, this was also the reason why green requests were often seen as pointless, and most of the time, just silly. It was rare that such tasks could jump from trivial to life-threatening so suddenly, but the sheet in her hands was evidence enough that it could happen.

"You may remember that a green request came in about six months ago that was very similar. A man in Shirotsume went to the Council to report that his daughter had gone missing suddenly that day. Naturally the Council set up a search party, but they turned nothing up. It was kept on the down low to avoid a panic and a green request was sent out to the guilds to find somebody more suited to help, but again, nothing was found and the girl simply assumed dead." Makarov shifted in his seat to sit slightly straighter. "However, around three months ago another crisis was reported from Shirotsume. This time, another young girl had gone missing during the night, from a different family. Again the Council tried to assist, but ended up just declaring the two incidences unrelated -most likely due to their lack of proximity- and giving up."

Erza felt her hands tighten on the paper. "And then? Why this all of a sudden?"

Makarov glanced from the red poster back to her face. "In the last month, more than ten young girls between the ages of 16 and 25 have disappeared from Shirotsume. The townspeople have naturally begun fearing for their daughters lives, and are scared that others may be taken soon as well. It was hard for the Council to determine exactly what was happening due to the lack of clues left by the person responsible, however a few days ago some startling evidence presented itself."

"What was it?"

"A gardener hired by the Everlue mansion was working overtime one night when he swore he heard screaming coming from one of the rooms in the house. He naturally went to investigate and found a woman in the cellar of the kitchen. She had been tied up and gagged and pretty much left to starve."

Erza couldn't stop the breath that escaped her as she listened, eyes wide in shock. However, she knew that something far worse was afoot when she noticed the expression on the Master's face. "That's not all, is it?"

Makarov grunted slightly. "No, it's not. The woman that the gardener found... she had been mutilated. Her face had been cut open and her body disfigured. He rushed her out of the mansion as fast as he could, but when the authorities questioned her, all she could say was 'he was trying to make me beautiful'."

There was a silence as both Erza and the Master said nothing. Erza leant forward slightly, hand coming up to hold her stomach, as she thought she might be sick at any moment. "Why didn't they just arrest this Duke Everlue guy!?"

"That's just the thing." Makarov's expression became harder. "The Duke insists that he has nothing to do with the crime, and states that he has been framed by the gardener. He let the Council perform a full inspection of his entire mansion, and they turned up absolutely nothing: the Council can not therefore arrest him, no matter how bad it looks."

"Who's the gardener?"

Makarov scanned the papers on his desk. "A Mr. Kaby Melon. Unfortunately for him, his father and Duke Everlue had a business relation before his father's death; one that apparently didn't end well. As such, it doesn't really help deny that Mr. Melon could be plotting against the man for some reason, which is another ballgame the Council has to take into account."

"So they've made it red and sent it to us..."

A sigh. "Yes indeed. They are requesting that I send some people to search through Duke Everlue's mansion. They are fairly sure that he is responsible for the abductions, but if they keep ordering searches that turn up dry there is nothing they can do. It's become our problem now, and a serious one at that, as women still seem to be disappearing from Shirotsume every week.

"And you want... only me to go?" Erza couldn't help the slight twinge of fear that struck her.

"Despite how it sounds, I think that one person for this job would be better than a lot. If this Duke Everlue man is responsible, he is obviously on top of everything, or he wouldn't have allowed the Council into his house. I think if he hears that a large group of guild members has arrived in town, he'll go into lock down and we'll get nothing. No, on this occasion, the fewer involved the better." Makarov paused. "That is, as long as you are okay with this?"

She had already known before he had told her the job that she would be willing to accept. She was the best in the guild: the strongest, the fastest, the most intuitive. It was her duty to complete jobs like these, for if she couldn't, who could? Standing up and leaning against the Master's desk, she looked him straight in the eye. "Of course I am okay with it. It would be my honour to find and end whomever is responsible for this disgusting crime." Folding her new red request, she stood and began to head towards the door.

"I'm counting on you Erza, and so are all the people of that village."

"Of course. I won't let you down."

Reaching the door, she swung it open and proceeded into the main part of the second floor, already running through a list of things she could possibly need for such a mission. She has only taken a few steps out of the room when her thought pattern was interrupted.

"Erza?" It was Lucy, sitting on the couch and obviously awaiting her return so that they could discuss what had happened on her last job. However, upon seeing her face the blonde must have picked up that something was going on. "Is everything okay?"

Erza forced herself into a smile. "Of course. I'm sorry, but the Master has already given me another red request and I'll have to leave as soon as possible. Is it okay if we delay this until later?"

Lucy stumbled over her words for a second. "Wait... _a- another _red request? Didn't you just return from one of those? That's a little... intense."

"Don't worry. It's nothing I can't handle." She chuckled as she moved down the flight of stairs to the main hall. She'd have to head back to her house and get new clothes and supplies before she left, so she'd better leave as soon as possible. It would be quite a long journey to Shirotsume, and she wanted to get there before nightfall.

Lucy's footsteps followed her down through the guild. "Okay then. As long as you're sure. Be careful, okay?"

She chuckled again. "Come on Lucy. This is _me _we're talking about. What's the worst that could happen?"

...

...

She really should have thought through those words before she spoke them. After all, she was always the one contemplating just how easily a life could be changed.

* * *

**End! Whoot~! I'm rather happy to get this thing moving ;D Three guesses who appears in the next chapter, kukukuku~! Chapter 2 will be mainly based at the Everlue mansion. I hope you look forward to it... and the creepy things happening there - I did mention that there would be strong themes... I hope you took me seriously :/**

**I hope you guys like the way I've adapted the characters into their positions in the guild based on the Magic they have in the original series. Gray and Duke Everlue from this chapter did take a little longer than the others (Lucy, Natsu etc.) but I found that I was just randomly sitting somewhere doing something and then my brain was suddenly like "OHMYGOSH! X character should be like this!" and I would go "That's pretty awesome brain!" and quickly grab a note pad to jot everything down. If you have any ideas for characters you'd like to see and what they can do/other character's abilities, let me know and I'll see if I can slip them in/add them to the drafts I already have ^_^**

**Uhhh, I guess that's everything :) Please feel free to leave me any feedback you want. I love hearing from you guys :)**

**I'll try and update on a weekly basis if possible. I do have mid-year exams coming up soon though, so things may slow down for a bit. Sorry :(**

**Until next time, **

**EvilTyrannicGoddess~**


	3. Daybreak

**Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry~! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated this D; You must have all thought I abandoned you ( _ _) I'm sorry. All of May was my last part of Uni semester and my Uni decided to try and brutally murder me with stupid assignments and tests and mini exams and all sorts of shit they could throw my way. As such, I only managed to write this page by slow page when I was on the bus :/ **

**Again, I'm sorry, though I hope you've all been enjoying the Jerza snippets Mashima has provided in the manga recently :) I can't wait to find out what happens with Millianna! On this note, happy Jerza week! I've loved reading all of the fics and seeing all of the art posted on the tumblr. So great~**

**Thanks to all you lovely people who left reviews for chapter 1:**

***severedserenity: You're so nice! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

***FoxyRay: I'm glad you like it. Thank you, and everyone else, for following this. It makes me so happy ^_^**

***Guest 1, Guest 2, Ficlover and NekoMataDemon: Jellal~! Gotta love him ;D Enjoy!**

***penguin trainer: Kya! I'm glad you like it! In terms of new revelations of character abilities, nothing much comes into this chapter, but I can't wait to start fleshing out some of the other popular guys :3**

**On another note, thanks to the Guest who pointed out like 3 seconds ago that somehow chapter 1 was replaced by the prologue. How did that happen? I have no clue... I didn't even touch it, but computers hate my guts, so shit is bound to happen when I try and publish new things D: I apologize in advance, but if you see anything wrong please let me know ;D I know I suck ( ._.)**

* * *

Lucy had given up trying to convince Erza not to go (or at least take someone else with her) by the time she had reached the main door of the guild, and had watched her with sullen eyes as she had begun the trek to the mountainside next to Magnolia, which held the guilds personal female dorms, Fairy Hills.

Erza kicked at a pebble in the middle of the cobblestone, face twisted into a slight grimace. Why did everyone seem to be on her back about safety right now? She wasn't always called out on these jobs because she was stupid... or weak... or- or anything like that. Why'd they have to treat her like she was going to meet her match one day? Wouldn't it just be better to not say that and ruin her confidence? Besides, it wasn't like she-

"Oy, Erza! Wait up for a sec'!"

_Oh brilliant..._

She of course knew the voice calling out to her, but also knew that it was too late to act as if she hadn't heard and run off, so she gave up and turned to towards Cana, only to find the brunette casually lounging in the gutter on the side of the road as if it were her own personal concrete mattress. Naturally, she had her ever-loyal (and ever-present) bottle of whiskey at her side, which she sluggishly waved to and fro as she motioned for the redhead to join her.

"Come sit with me for a second. I have somethin' to show you."

Sighing and trying not to seem too annoyed at being interrupted, Erza moved to Cana's side. "Don't you think it's inappropriate to be out drinking so early and curled up in a gutter?" she snapped. "You're representing Fairy Tail for crying out loud. Do you want everyone in this town to think we're just a bunch of drunken losers with nothing better to do than discredit ourselves?"

Cana blew a loud raspberry at her seriousness. "You'd rather they find out what really goes on in there, eh?"

Erza clasped a hand to the bridge of her nose to try and keep herself from yelling, knowing there was no point in arguing with Cana. Despite her often tipsy nature, Cana was sharper than a knife and one of the guilds best informers. She could somehow get herself into and out of any social group she pleased, and used her reputation of being a drunken dolt as a cover to earn the friendship and hear the secrets of those who may not have been so happy to share if it weren't assumed she'd have no recollection of them in the morning. Erza had no doubt that even now Cana was fully focussed and hanging on her every word.

"What do you want Cana? I'm in a bit of a rush here."

Cana hiccupped as she sloppily reached back into her blue fluffy handbag and pulled out her deck of tarot cards. Erza figured it out in a few seconds flat. "CANA! I don't-"

"Wait wait wait... just a second! I swear! I've already done the readin' and everything, I just think you need to hear it."

"Cana, no offence, but you know I don't... well, believe in cards and stuff like that."

"Trust me, you've made that very clear, but this is different. It's my own readin' style and everythin'. One I invented." Cana couldn't seem to stop the smug expression that lit her features slightly. "It's really simple. Just pullin' out four cards tells me everythin' I need to know. One for a place, one for a person and one for an event."

Erza inhaled deeply. "You said four cards genio-"

"Yeah, yeah, well there's an extra one, but I'll get to that later."

"I still don't get why this makes me so special..."

"Well..." Erza was almost shocked by the sudden transition Cana made between her drunken self and the one she now presented. It was if all of her joking was gone, replaced by that steely insight that made her so good at what she did. Pulling the four top cards off of her deck, she continued. "The first three cards I drew were pretty normal for you." She flipped three of them down onto the side-walk at Erza feet, forcing the redhead to kneel to get a better look at them. Extending her bangle-covered arms, Cana pointed to the first one, which held a small picture of a mounted man with a bow chasing after a white deer. "The Hunt. You almost always get this card as your event card when I read you, and then this," she moved across to the second, which displayed a man dancing in a rain of golden coins. "That's the card for riches or good fortune, so when it comes up as the where card it usually means you're headin' some place fancy. Finally this one," Cana gestured to the third, on which a man burned in some sort of hell-fire, screaming. A small and slightly evil smile graced the card-readers lips. "The sinner."

Despite the tiny feeling of awe Erza felt actually seeing one of Cana's predictions that didn't make her roll her eyes, she couldn't help but want to at the same time. "Cana, look. I'm pretty impressed with all of this, but you know what I go out and do, so I can't possibly see why any of this is relevant or worth wasting my time for."

Cana took a long swig from her bottle before she continued. "Hey, I haven't told you about the last card yet. It's sort of like an overall sort of card... gives me the general gist of what's goin' to happen. Every time I read you Erza I get the same final card. It's always-" Cana hastily grabbed up her deck and shuffled through it, fingers blurred until she finally stopped and pulled a lone card from the pile. "Always this one." Holding up in front of Erza face, the redhead glanced at the picture of the woman on the surface. She was wearing a flowing white gown and stood atop a rock, elegant as her hair blew in the wind along with the set of scales she had hoisted up in each hand. Cana, giving her just enough time to look, continued. "That's the card for justice, or balance if you like. The idea it that the things being done will return equality. Makes sense, if you think about it."

Erza didn't feel like wasting any more of her precious seconds. "Which card did you pull this time?"

The brunette gave her a look before finally handing her the last card. Taking it, Erza looked at the man and woman gracing the front, their faces bright and smiling as their hands clasped together around a cup, which spewed sunlight from its rim. She frowned and moved her gaze back up to Cana, the question in her eyes.

"That, Erza, is the card of lovers."

"_What!?_" Erza couldn't help it when the card slipped from her fingers and softly flipped to the ground, landing next to the others on the pavement. Trying to regain some of her composure she hastily crossed her arms and gave out a scoff. "Come off it Cana, you know I don't... Uhhh, that I don't-"

"My cards don't tell me about the present Erza, they predict the future."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever -whomever- this is, they're coming and they're coming soon. I called out to you because I thought you ought to know. Be careful, 'kay?"

She couldn't help but notice that Cana was yet another person worrying over her today, and lost her tongue for a second before she cleared her throat and muttered a quick "Okay then. Thank you Cana." Getting up from the ground she then proceeded to walk as fast as she could without jogging down the street, wanting to be as far away from Cana and her creepy cards as she could get.

It took her a few more blocks to get Cana out of sight, at when she put both hands to the side of her face and light slapped herself a good number of times.

_Come on Erza. You know better than to believe in things like that._

* * *

The cart ride to Shirotsume was long and slow, and took almost the rest of the remaining day; Erza arrived just before sunset. To her, things actually couldn't have gone better, as she had been planning for the entire journey and had decided to begin her investigation of the Everlue mansion at midnight, when hopefully all of the day staff would have left and the night staff have fallen asleep.

There was also a third reason. If the gardener who found the girl had been accurate with his times, it would seem that the Duke was performing his malicious actions deep into the night, and, if anything, she would love to catch the man red handed so that she could finish him on the spot and not have to worry about it any longer. If not, she'd merely have to gather as much information as possible and report back as failing to find the culprit. Despite her and the Council's want for the person responsible to be gone, she still couldn't kill someone who could then be proven innocent.

Walking through the small town, Erza couldn't help but notice just how quiet it was. She couldn't really blame the people, in fact, if such crimes were happening in town she lived in, she wouldn't wall herself up, rather just leave altogether. She did admire this: the people, for staying, and that made her mission seem all the more important. She wouldn't allow them to live in fear any longer.

Duke Everlue's mansion was an even grander sight. Situated just outside the town on a hillside, it practically bled wealth and status from every brick and section of glazing. Erza mused that all of the money used to build it probably equated to that used to build the entirety of Shirotsume. Studying the front of the property whilst keeping confined to a clump of bushes, Erza slowly circled the house a number of times, making mental notes about everything that might prove to be necessary later on. There were thick hedges completely lining the west side of the building, which would most likely break her fall should she ever need to leap from one of the windows above. A small workers gate was situated in the fence to the north, this being the only way through the tall fences besides the main driveway. On the east side of the mansion she had spotted the large balcony that ran along the second floor, thick ivy lining the walls around it right up to the roof. Master Makarov had taught her all about surveying her destination when she had first joined the second floor. _Even a few minutes of wasted time to know your environment can save you hours -or even your life- later. Never forget that Erza. _Never had she forgotten those words, and it was with them in mind that she continued her studying until the sun went down.

From her position in one of the oak trees outside the gate, Erza watched as the maids and other members of the day staff finally made their way home, and waited as the mansion was slowly shut up for the next few hours. She decided during this time that she would begin by finding and searching through the Duke's personal office or library. If she could, finding proof that he was the man behind the kidnappings would then allow her to just kill him straight off the bat, rather than searching room after room for the victims. With so many sections and floors in the mansion, she wouldn't be surprised if there were secret cupboards or areas of wall that a person could be hidden within. Worse come to worse, she'd be forced to head back to the town and hope that the villain chose that particular night to strike again, giving her the opportunity to catch him -or her- in the act.

In her earlier walk, Erza thought she had spotted the tops of some bookcases through one of the windows, and hoped that the room above was a study of some sort. Luckily, the room was one of those on the east facing wall, which meant that the balcony led straight into it. When she believed the coast was clear, she carefully scaled the spiked fence and made her way towards the east wall, pressing herself against it and double checking over and over that there was no one around to spot her. Convinced she was okay, she pulled the long cable she had wound up in her backpack, and carefully latched a hook onto the end. Swinging the wire a couple of times, she launched it up and over her head towards the balcony, performing the manoeuvre a few times before the hook eventually caught on one of the railings. Yanking it and then testing it with her full weight to see that it would hold, the redhead slipped on a pair of black gloves to avoid scarring her hands and began to haul herself upwards, arm muscles tensing with the dramatic use of her upper body strength. Finally reaching the balcony, she hastily swung herself over the marble paling and onto the cool floor below. Hoisting her metal cable back up and replacing it in her bag, she made her way to the window.

The room she could see inside was in fact a library of some sort, and a grand one at that. Bookshelves lined every section on the walls save for the door and the window she was looking through, and were overflowing with thick volumes and tomes. The only other piece of furniture that graced the area was a huge wooden desk that sat in the centre of a red rug, close enough to the window that the sunlight that entered the room would probably be enough to write by. It seemed like a good place to start, but then came the window.

Walking up close enough so that she could glide her gloved hands along the surface of the panes, Erza moved from one side of the window to the other. It was one of those windows that she had always associated with wealth, the type that ran from the floor right up to the roof and was divided into multiple smaller sections with gold trimming. Looking up and down it a few times, only one pane seemed to be movable, that being the one on the far right which held a large lock. Well, she wasn't the guilds best assassin for nothing. Slipping out Lucy's picks from her pocket, the woman knelt and began to fiddle with the bolt.

Five minutes passed, and then ten. _Damn it! _Why the hell couldn't she figure out this forsaken lock? Trust the stupid Duke to have fitted some form of super-clasp to all of his doors and windows. Sighing, she removed her picks and glanced upward, not possibly seeing how she could get through the window without smashing it. Well, that was an option, but one she'd prefer not to take. There was nothing more obvious than a broken window to let someone know they had an intruder.

What to do then? She could always find another window, but just by glancing at those further around the house from the balcony such a thing seemed to be futile, as all of the windows looked to be locked in a similar manner. Erza angrily grunted to herself. _Of course Erza, way to not check the windows when you had hours to spare before. The Master would be ashamed of you. _

There had to be a way though. She didn't travel and wait and plot just to be stopped in the first half an hour of her mission. She only needed to think. _What ways can you get into a house... Come on! _The windows seemed to be out, as was the main door. Perhaps there was a workers door out the back of the property, but then again, if there was it would be the place most guarded for exactly that point. She hadn't seen any sort of door leading to an underground room from her earlier surveillance, and that left...

The roof.

There were about another two storeys above the balcony to scale if she was to get up there, but the ivy that had wrapped itself along the walls could probably hold strong enough that she wouldn't have to use her cable again, however there was then the question of what she hoped to find up there when she arrived. She supposed there could be some sort of roof garden that she could break into, or, despite her lack of comfort with the idea, a chimney of some kind that she could climb down. The slightly claustrophobic part of her shivered at the idea, however she didn't seem to have any other options at this point.

Reaching forward, Erza grabbed at a clump of the ivy and gave it a sharp tug, but the plant was so intricately twined together that it held strong despite her weight. Taking a deep breath, she moved hand over hand up her living ladder until she latched her fingers onto the gutter of the roof, pulling herself up and over and flopping exhaustedly onto the marble below.

Standing and looking around, the first thing Erza thought was that this wouldn't be a comfortable break in. There were no rooftop gardens or doors to be seen, merely an abundance of chimneys and pipes. The one that caught her attention though was not brick like the others, rather large, wide and metal. Creeping over to it, she stood on tiptoe and peered into the blackness below. A faint but pleasant smell drifted upwards through it, and she guessed it led to the kitchen, what she was looking at likely being a ventilation shaft for the cook-top. Deciding that out of all the options this was the best of a bad lot, she pulled the grate blocking the shaft out of place and clambered inside, arms and legs spread wide to ensure she didn't just drop straight into oblivion. Slow step after slow step, she lowered herself downwards, trying not to focus on the little space between herself and the four walls.

A few minutes later she felt her leg finally run out of pipe to grip and plopped out, landing on all fours atop a wood-fuelled oven. She had been correct in assuming she would arrive in the kitchen, as, glancing about, her eyes quickly spied the foods and cooking utensils that littered every free space of counter.

She had made sure to check the location of the pipe before crawling into it, and knew she was in the lowest part of the house in the south-east corner. That would mean travelling a floor up and heading along the east side if she were going to find the library again. Who knew, maybe she would even find something more interesting along the way...

Through the use of a workers staircase just outside the kitchen door, getting to the second floor was easy enough, though from there things got slightly harder, as a guard patrolled the entirety of the level. Keeping to the shadows to observe him, Erza made sure to time his every round, and, after watching him walk past at least five times, figured he went via a route, rather than just walking blindly to and fro. This circuit seemed to take him about six minutes each time.

After he passed her yet again, she slipped out from her hiding spot and ran down the hallway to her right, passing door after door and praying that she hadn't gone too far. Finally, she stopped in front of two of the doors, willing to bet her favourite blade that the library was behind one of them. Naturally not wanting to just barge into one in case she came across unwanted occupants, she knew she had to be quick before the guard reappeared, and then remembered the mirror she was carrying in her backpack. Whipping it out, she flung herself at the bottom of the first door and slipped it under, angling it so that she had a view of the floor: it was wooden. Leaping up, she did the same to the door on the left, spotting the blood red carpet she had seen through the window. A little more tilting and she swore the legs of the desk came into view. With enough time given up, she turned the door handle and slipped inside.

She couldn't help but sigh with relief when her eyes met the dominant forms of the many bookshelves, but she quickly regained her composure and moved towards the desk. It was completely cluttered with books, stacks of paper and binders of files, but she knew better than to just dive in and begin rifling through them. Re-gloving her hands (she had to remove them to get grip on the vent earlier) she gently lifted and replaced a few papers, though as she worked nothing seemed to grab her attention. Moving down to the drawers, she went through them for a little while too, though again nothing came to light. _What, did you just expect to find some folder titled "My secret evil plans with young women"?_

Slightly disgruntled, she was just considering whether or not to move on to another room when she noticed an inconsistency with one of the bookshelves. Whilst the others all completely touched the floor, the second from the door on the left was slightly lifted. Walking over to it a kneeling, she tried to peer underneath, but it was too dark to see anything below besides the carpet. That wasn't going to stop her though: rolling her sleeves up to her shoulders she slipped her right arm tightly under the shelf, feeling her way across the expanse until her fingers skimmed past the carpet and onto a smooth surface beyond. _There's no wall behind this bookcase!_

Retracting her arm she stood and began to tug on the shelf, hoping to move it from its position, though it wouldn't budge. She was just about to try from the other side when a strange clunking suddenly hit her ears.

She spun straight to the door, hands flying to the four knives strapped to her thigh, only to notice that the door hadn't moved at all. _What the...?_

CLUNK.

Performing a total 180, she realised the sound had come from the other side of the room, and quickly ran to the window, peering out to see something she hadn't expected.

It was a large metal hook, the noise being from when it had hit and latched onto the railing of the balcony outside. As she stood looking at it, the wire cable attached suddenly went taught.

_No fucking way! _By the time her brain analysed exactly what she was seeing, Erza only about thirty seconds to jump up one of the ladders to her right and crouch in the shadows atop the bookcase it was leaning against before two hands gripped the balcony and a figure pulled themselves into sight.

They were completely concealed from head to toe in black just as she was, though they looked a great deal taller, and more well-built. As she began to wonder what the hell they could be doing here if she had already been assigned the mission, the person finished pulling up their hook and moved towards the window. Scanning it for a few seconds just as she had, they too made their way to the lock at the far end, pulling a small pack from their side which she bet held their picks. _Hahaha, good luck to you..._

Careful not to reveal too much of her upper body or face, Erza leant over the rim of the shelf to watch the person more closely as they fiddled with the lock for some time, before appearing to sigh and stand, trailing their eyes over the other panes. _Ha! I told you so. I think even Lucy might have her work cut out for her with that one. _

At that point she felt almost one hundred percent sure they would leave, though soon discovered she was one hundred percent wrong.

Rather than going, the person paced past the window a few times before seemingly choosing a panel and kneeling before it. Pulling a knife from the sheath on their back, they proceeded to trail the tip between the glass and the golden frame. _What are you doing? _Continuing for some time, the person eventually pulled the knife out, before carefully reaching forward to slide the pane from side to side. Erza could only stare on in awe and annoyance. _They've separated the damned glass from the frame!_

Why hadn't she thought to do that? Admittedly it was a rather tedious task and required a lot of concentration, but surely it was easier than scaling roofs and descending down kitchen vents!

As she contemplated her own stupidity the person finished and fully removed the glass from the window, slipping into the room and replacing the pane behind them. If someone were to lean against it it would surely fall out, but otherwise it looked completely untouched. _Okay Mr. Smart Guy, what are you going to do next?_

She watched cautiously as they made their way silently through the room, stopping every few metres to check the bookshelves. Eventually they stopped before the false one, ducking for a few seconds to run their hand under the raised base. _They're looking for the same thing as me?_

She waited for them to try and shift the shelf. Who knew, perhaps the ass could do all of the hard work for her. She didn't think it would be that hard to sneak up on them and knock them out after they were done. Surprise hit her then when the person made no effort to move the shelf, rather reached into their pocket to pull out a slip of paper. Glancing at it momentarily, they began to trail their fingers over the spines of the books, eventually stopping at a thick yellow volume that even from the other side of the room Erza could tell said 'Daybreak'. Removing the book from its place, the person fiddled with the empty space behind, jumping back quickly as the shelf suddenly swung open, revealing a stone staircase beyond, and leaving Erza at a complete loss for words. _What the hell? Who is this guy?_

Stupidly trying to get a better look at them she shifted forward somewhat, not noticing the stack of books piled up beside her. The book that fell only dropped about twenty centimetres, but that was apparently enough to send a loud '_clomp'_ echoing through the silence. _Oh shit!_

The person spun instantly, eyes scanning every inch of the wall she lay pressed against. In her nervousness she swore they seemed to linger for longer on her exact location than anywhere else, but just as quickly as they were startled the person turned their back again, making their way between the bookshelves and into the passage beyond.

As soon as she dared she leapt from the shelf, landing silently and tiptoeing towards the secret entrance. Should she follow them? It seemed to be the logical thing to do. She doubted she'd be able to find anything similar if she went elsewhere in the house, and this was the closest she had gotten to any sort of clue that there were women confined somewhere. No, this seemed like the best lead to exactly what she was looking for: gathering her courage she moved forward into the dark.

The first thing beyond the passage was a set of stairs. Glancing at the walls, she noted that only the top of the stairs was lined with burning torches, and that one was missing. She didn't want to take her own at the risk of being spotted, so, trusting that the person ahead of her had, she continued, moving slightly faster than she normally would until she caught up to a glowing light down the path. Making sure not to get too close nor let them get too far ahead, she followed them for some time.

Just how far down did the passage go? There were never any other halls that intersected the one they were on, yet she noted that she had moved down stairs too many times to still be above or at ground level. Perhaps it was an underground section of the mansion privy to anyone but the owner? More importantly though, such a place would be perfect for holding young women out of sight, as well as making them impossible to hear from the main house.

Rounding the next corner and continuing down yet another flight of stairs, this thought distracted her from a far more serious one. Only a few steps down did she freeze, the realisation that she had lost the light in front of her dawning in her mind.

It was also at that point that she was hit from behind. Hard.

There was a tangle of limbs and sharp jabs as the two of them fell down the remaining stairs, Erza's head slamming harshly into the stone floor below as a mass of heavy person landed atop her, effectively pinning her to the ground and using their own hands to trap hers beside her face. Forced to look up, her eyes came into contact with the army-printed bandanna that concealed the lower half of her attackers face, leaving only their olive-coloured eyes to stare intensely down into hers. As she tried to rip her arms free from their grasp, they -he, she realised- let out a soft chuckle, leaning in slightly closer to try and spy her face beneath her own mask and cap.

His voice was baritone and suave, and she didn't need any help to hear the humour he was putting behind it.

"My, my. Just what do we have here?"

* * *

**Looool! I'm so sorry to end just like that. I had actually planned to end this chapter a little further ahead, but it was already quite long and I'd have to put in a lot more to get to the section I originally wanted to stop at. So, yes, Jellal appeared, and yes, I do realise that he said like one line... *sees all your angry glares* Gomen! Gomen! Please don't kill me DX**

**Next chapter should (hopefully) be up soon. I do have exams I have to study for but procrastination should be my middle name, so I'm pretty sure I'll find time to get chapter 3 properly completed in due time. Until then, live long and love Jerza!**

**EvilTyrannicGoddess :)**


	4. The Blue-Haired Man

***sighs* Okay! Finally finished this chapter ^_^ Yaaaay~ Sorry if you felt that you had to wait a long time, but I have mid-year exams to study for T^T**

**Reviews! How I love seeing your reviews! Review more! NOW! D:**

***Apple: Cana like does know everything that's happening ;D And yes, Erza hasn't had a boyfriend and (in this story) has never been kissed before, so the idea of a relationship is totally foreign to her XD**

***ILAUGHATYOUALL: * ^ * Thank you! I hope to get more reviews over time :) Maybe now that Jellal actually says more than one line my wish will come true.**

***NekoMataDemon, severedserenity, TheCookieMonster77 & penguin trainer: Sorry to just bring Jellal in and then drop off to nowhere, but hopefully you like this chapter. The Jellal I write has the personality of the current, post-timeskip Jellal, though without all of the remorse and sadness. As such, he's confident, talented and a bit of a joker. I hope you like it :3**

***manycoloredeyes: Yeah, I can't wait to write the Jerza lemons, but I'm sorry to say that you may have to wait a bit. It may become clearer after this chapter but the two are a bit off from that at the moment. However, I will always try to include some form of sexual tension if I can ;D As for the second part... *sighs* Yeah, I was hoping that wouldn't confuse people, but I did it for two reasons. Firstly, though it's obvious to us that the person is Jellal, I want to write as if we are looking through Erza's eyes, and therefore only know what she knows. Secondly, I know that even then, most people would just assume the person is male, or use the male pronoun, but Erza doesn't like to decide people's genders until she knows for sure, because she hates always being mistaken for a man and as such never does that to others. Hence, she used "their" or "person" to talk about Jellal as she watched him, until he spoke and she knew for certain he was male. I hope that makes sense :/**

***Aeria Swordlancer: Wow, thank you for your comment. I was in a restaurant when I read it on my phone and was smiling like an idiot through the rest of my dinner XD Yes, Jellal is more proficient than Erza, but Erza is a little more stubborn and strong-willed, which helps her. Aye... finding time to type this all out is a bugger, but I'm pretty stubborn myself, so I will always try to be as fast as I can be ^_^ Please enjoy this chapter.**

**Aside from this, thanks to everyone still reading. I was screwing around before and went to those charts that show the countries the readers are from. Wow! I didn't even know Kuwait or Guam were actual places before I wiki'd them after seeing them on the list. So, to those few readers from Kuwait and Guam, a shout-out to you! Enjoy! :D**

**On with the show! Mashima owns them all. OWNS THEM ALL I SAY!**

* * *

"My, my. Just what do we have here?"

Erza grimaced. Like hell she was going to answer that. Instead she jerked her hands harder, once again trying to rip them from his, though he merely tightened his grip and leant harder against her in response.

"Get _off _me!"

She hadn't wanted to talk if she could help it, but her situation pissed her off so much that she accidentally slipped. It turned out to be exactly what she needed though, for as soon as the words left her mouth the man moved back a bit, his eyes going wide before they raked down her body once more.

"You're a woma-"

She moved as soon as his grip faltered for those few seconds, knocking him across the face and moving her leg out to the side to catch his and shove him off of her form. Her hands already on the floor, she kicked off with her feet and flipped away from him, landing in a crouch and drawing one of her knives, which she held out in his direction.

He rose from the ground as she watched, hand coming up to rub at his face. As she spoke, she too stood to try and match his height, despite the fact that he easily towered about a head above her without even trying.

"Yes, I am. Now unless you want to have your body sliced to ribbons by this woman, you will head back up those stairs and leave right now."

She could tell he was smiling at her. "I'm sorry. I meant you no disrespect. I merely assumed I'd find you a bit further down this tunnel, chained to a wall and screaming with your body torn to bits." His eyes darkened slightly. "Now. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" She didn't fail to notice his hand slip behind his back to grab at the weapons he had clasped there.

How dare he! Why would she have anything to do with the disgusting things happening in this awful place? She tightened her grip on her knife and jutted it further forward to remind him that she still had it as he finished slipping his own free, fingers twitching as he twirled it back and forth between them.

"I could ask you the very same question. Whereas I have been given strict permission to be here, why you should be in this mansion at all makes you the shiftier character."

He seemed slightly taken aback by that, though recovered himself and put an innocent hand up to his chest. "Me? Shifty?" He paused to studier her closer. "Ah, you're a guild worker aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. What of it?"

"Which guild? That is, if milady can disclose such valuable and precious information."

She could tell through his tone that he was making fun of her. "No, I don't think that is any of your business actually."

"Ah, that's too bad." He swung both arms outward in a casual shrug. "I'm trying to be a gentleman here, but if that's how you want to play it..."

She barely had time to react before he cut off mid-sentence and lunged at her, though she just managed to get her knife up it time to clash it with his own, both of them grunting at the jolt that shivered up their arms. She moved to flick his knife to the right, but he was faster, thrusting her own up and using his left hand to grab hers, while he kicked her legs out from underneath her and sent her tumbling to the ground. Replacing his hand with his knee to keep her weapon arm pinned to the ground, he grabbed a scruff of the fabric at her left shoulder and slipped his blade into it, barely missing her skin as he passed his knife through. Grabbing both ends of the cloth, he ripped her sleeve down her arm, exposing the blue Fairy Tail guild mark that she had tattooed there.

"Hmm... Fairy Tail."

How had he known she was marked there? She must have had a shocked look in her eyes, for when he glanced down at her again he continued. "You were on the bookshelf when I entered the library, weren't you? I thought I spotted the top of your head, and, more importantly," he touched the tip of his knife to her mark, "I thought I saw an exposed shoulder or two."

If he wasn't trapping her arms she would have slapped herself across the face. Not only for being seen but for being stupid enough to roll up her sleeves and expose that little clue that could easily have reveal her identity to any fool lucky enough to see it. _Stupid, stupid Erza. You are stupid._

She was interrupted from her mental self-scolding when he spoke again. "So, whilst you're comfortable there, let's continue." She tried to squirm away again, but his grip tightened. "What would a Fairy Tail worker be doing in Duke Everlue's mansion this late at night?"

"I already told you, I have permission to be here. I was requested to come here by the Council."

He shook his head. "Somehow I doubt that. What exactly do you know about this situation and what is it you were doing in the library? I have a feeling I was followed because you didn't know this passage existed, so you must have originally been there for something else."

"You jerk!"

"No, that's not an acceptable answer." Before she had time to move he grabbed at the cap on her head, tugging it off to let her scarlet hair fall free around her barely concealed face. His skin was warm against her cheek as he slipped two fingers under the rim of her bandanna, though even this was cold compared to the burn of his gaze as he stared her down from above.

"I'll ask you one last time. What is your involvement with the happenings here, what were you doing in that office and what is everything you know about the Duke and what is occurring?"

Why did he seem to think she was lying? More importantly, should she risk not answering? Despite not being able to see any part of his face besides his eyes, she was almost one hundred percent certain she had never met him in her life, so he probably wouldn't recognise her even if he did remove her bandanna; it was still a risk to let anyone see her. It was bad enough that he had traced her back to Fairy Tail, but knowing what she looked like was the kind of thing that could get her caught in undercover missions if he revealed her appearance to others. However...

She jerked her left leg upwards, hoping to high heaven that she would catch him between his legs. His form on top of hers didn't give her much moving room, so she missed her mark, but still managed to knee him quite roughly on his inner thigh. As he toppled slightly to the left, she yanked her arms free and made a grab for his face, fingers hooking into the cloth concealing him as she rolled away. As she heard him let out a sharp growl of annoyance she mentally whooped in triumph, though as she found her feet again soon realised that the bottom half of her face was now visible, the man having still had a grip on her bandanna when she pulled away.

Sighing but content that they were at least still on even ground in this aspect, she turned to look at him, breath catching ever so slightly when she saw him boldly staring her down. He was handsome, she'd give him that. _He's very handsome... Shut up! _One of his most prominent features was his bright cerulean hair (this may have made her laugh had she not already been acquainted with many others who shared a similar colour) which framed his sharp jawline and stuck up everywhere like he had just gotten out of bed. However, even that was dominated by the red mark -_tattoo?_- that ran down the right side of his face, starting above his eyebrow and passing through his eye to stop just above his mouth. Had he put that there himself? Was there a purpose to it other than making him strangely ten times hotter? _Did you just say "hotter"? ... ... NO! _Glancing at it again, her eyes accidentally caught his and they both quickly looked away, Erza trying to appear as though she totally wasn't checking him out. As she moved her gaze to the stone wall to his left she heard him chuckle, a small smile gracing his lips. For some stupid reason she began to wonder if he would smile sincerely for her, so that she could see if it would soften the steely mask he seemed to wear. _Erza, you definitely hit your head too hard when you fell down those stairs._

She was snapped out of her reverie when he took a step forward, the simple action jerking her immediately into a fight stance with here knife raised. Just because he had seen her face didn't mean he wouldn't continue to attack her. Her actions didn't seem to faze him though.

"I've heard rumours of a scarlet-haired beauty within Fairy Tail who has a violent occupation." He shook his head ever so slightly. "I hardly expected them to be true."

She turned her head to the side to study him thoughtfully for a few seconds before she responded. "They call me the Scarlet Flash. I dare say you need a demonstration as to why."

His sudden laughter surprised her. "Oh no, I wouldn't want to go up against you. Particularly after the last two times you somehow ended up disarmed and at my mercy." He pretended to cringe.

_Bastard. _"Very funny. Let me guess, they call you "Blue Humour" or something?"

He snickered. "Hmmm, close. I go by many names, but for the sake of making it easy for you, you can simply call me Siegrain."

Siegrain, huh? She was one hundred percent sure it was a pseudonym, but even so, if it was legitimate he was pretty stupid to give it to her. Even aliases could be traced to find information on people.

"So Siegrain, I have a feeling you've confused our roles here. You seem pretty hung up on trying to frame me as a accomplice when I'm actually the only one out of the both of us completely innocent here. In fact, how did _you _know about the passage in the library?"

"Completely innocent?" A doubting glance. "As for the shelf, it really wasn't that hard to convince the Duke's head butler to tell me a little bit about the house and it's owner."

Interrogating the workers? Why the hell hadn't she thought of that? No... she had done everything fine as well, this ass just seemed to do it slightly better. How he managed to make her feel so incompetent -her, Fairy Tail's best- was really starting to piss her off though.

"Well then, aren't you just amazing?" He moved to reply so she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "But you're missing one important thing." She hadn't wanted to show it to him, but he was too darn pushy for his own good and she didn't need him attacking her again. Reaching back into the folds of her shirt, she plucked the red request out and held it up for him to see. "This, Siegrain, is a demand from the Council of Fiore for the person behind these crimes to be caught and killed. It states that every action I undertake surrounding this case is legal and permissible, and, well, seeing as only one person can be given such a thing at a time, I know for sure that you don't have one of these. As such, I think I have the right to tell you to get the hell out of my way before I decide to include you in the happenings here and get no blame for disposing of you."

There was a silence as Siegrain studied the page and slowly seemed to think it through. "Give me that." Sharply moving forward, she predicted his actions in time and could have yanked the sheet back, but decided to just let him have it. Besides, maybe he'd finally realise she had nothing to do with the Duke and leave her alone.

His eyes darted back and forth as he scanned the page from top to bottom, before finally sighing in realisation. "This is messed up." He waved the paper to the side of his face. "Permission to take out people like Everlue? You shouldn't need permission to take action against someone like that." A sigh. "But at least I know you aren't the one that I'm looking for."

She rolled her eyes. _About freakin' time! _"Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving, that would really help me out. Seeing as I am allowed to be here and you aren't, I'd like to be able to continue down this passage without you tagging along."

Siegrain lifted a hand to run it through his hair. "You wouldn't even be in this passage if _you _hadn't tagged after _me._ In fact, you'd probably still be in the library. The way I see it I've done more towards this tha-". There was a sudden silence as the bluenette paused and looked down at the request again. "This is your permission to be here huh?"

She froze. "What are you-?" she began, but was quickly interrupted when Siegrain held the paper out in front of him and ripped it down the middle.

A choked sort of whimper escaped her as her hand came up to pointlessly try and stop him, though he merely smiled and put the halves together to rip them through a few more times. Finishing with a handful of red paper squares he raised his arms and released them in a red rain around their heads.

"Well, looking at this situation anew, I have decided that I am going to keep going down this passage to search for a group of kidnapped girls." Walking past her he paused for a second to turn back. "Oh, I'd kind of like to be able to continue down this passage without you _tagging along_."

Erza could barely stop her fisted hands from shaking at her sides. "You... You... YOU!"

"Yes? If you're going to offend me please do it quickly, or, if your insults are as bad as your knife skills then-"

What he would do she never did find out, for it was at that moment that a blood-curdling scream echoed down the hallway toward them, raising the hairs on the back of her neck and immediately causing their heads to flick to the dark passageway behind them.

* * *

Completely forgetting what they had been arguing about mere seconds ago, the two stood staring straight ahead for a few seconds of silence before they both bolted down the hallway.

The coldness of the air in the passage made her shiver as it hit her bare face and she could hear Siegrain's breathing as he loped just behind her, his torch -grabbed from where it had landed after their fall- glowing just brightly enough to guide the way.

Where was he from? He couldn't be a member of a guild if he had never seen a request in his life, but at the same time he knew about Fairy Tail and had heard rumours of her. Then there was the fact that he had weapons and supplies. He must have gotten them from somewhere, but such things were hard to legally come by in the streets as the Council kept a close eye on all arms sales. Those on the second floor of Fairy Tail were only allowed to get weapons from their own personal guild blacksmith and supplier as it were, so had she not known better she would have labelled him as a thief or underground gang member; merely the fact that he had come to the mansion to do exactly her job made her think he was nothing of the sort though. What kind of gang would waste their time and energy taking out random mass murderers? Perhaps she should ask him? Would he give her a proper answer though? She highly doubted it.

Despite her want to know more about him, there was a second part of her wondering just what the hell she was doing. So the guy seemed to not be involved in the crimes, but did that automatically make it okay for her to let him run beside her; make it okay for her to let her guard down? For all she knew he could have said all of that stuff to make her trust him and then he'd turn and get her the minute she looked the other way.

This thought rang in her mind as the passageway slowly began to widen around them, a small light becoming visible further along. Huffing from her speed, Erza raced forward and burst into the huge stone room beyond, performing a full circle several times over before she realised that it was completely empty. Well, almost... save for the few wooden doors on each wall and the large stone table in the middle of the space. Arriving mere seconds after her, Siegrain approached the giant granite slab and ran his hands along the surface, grimacing slightly as he did.

"What is it?"

He motioned for her to come to his side and she slowly did so, still arguing over whether or not she should just slit his throat whilst she had the chance. As she got closer, he pulled free the knife strapped across his shoulder, and she jumped back a good metre, hands flying to her thigh sheaths. Seeing her react made him jump back too, and she realised that he was being just as cautious with her as she was with him. _Ah, he doesn't trust me either. _

"Sorry", she muttered, trying to physically show her relaxation to calm him down too as she moved her hands away from her weapons and began forward again. As she reached his side, he ran the tip of his blade over the table-top, highlighting to her the grooves that were scratched into the otherwise smooth surface.

"Knife marks." He didn't need to continue for the implications to set in. They were looking for mutilated women, what else would the table be used for?

"We definitely heard someone close by. I don't think they were here because there's no mess, but you don't suppose..." She motioned to the doors surrounding them as she let herself trail off.

He nodded. "Most likely. Have you noticed it though?"

She wanted to reply with "yes" just because she was so sick of him being five steps ahead, but also knew that would just lead her into further issues, so merely settled with "what?".

"I think we've moved way farther east than the mansion allows. I mean," he pointed to the open passageway they came from, "If that is west then that door," he motioned to the one directly opposite, "That door should keep going east, which doesn't make sense. Why go to all the trouble of building such extensive tunnels? It would be hard enough to dig below the mansion, let alone beyond it."

What Siegrain said was correct, though it took her a few more minutes of silence for everything to come crashing down on her. As she let out her gasp of realisation he turned to her.

She put an angered fist to her forehead. "It's not troublesome at all if Shirotsume lies to the east of your mansion and you want to kidnap young girls from their houses without anyone being able to figure out how the hell you did it."

Siegrain paused to take it all in before his eyes went wide. "Shit! No... that shouldn't be possible. That..." he pointed to the eastern door, "That can't possibly go all the way to Shirotsume." After a few more seconds he sighed as if in defeat. "Th-That's absurd... but it does make sense."

She nodded. "It'd also explain why when the Council did their first rounds of monitoring the culprit always managed to strike and never be seen making his entrance or escape." Erza let the wheels of he mind turn a little more to try and click together every piece. "The Council also found nothing when they searched the Duke's house because he could pretend to be under house-arrest and still get out every night to draw their attention away."

"Very good."

"Thanks," she muttered, slightly uplifted by his praise before she glanced up and saw that Siegrain hadn't spoken, moreover that he was looking straight over her shoulder at something -or someone, she realised with a shiver- behind her.

Twirling, her eyes met with those of a short and thin man. He was grotesque... there was simply no other way to describe him. Where a nose should have been, his seemed to be cut off at the end, whilst two thick scars ran down his face, starting just below his eyes and puckering through both cheeks. She was relieved beyond belief that the rest of his body was hidden beneath a thick coat and pants, so that she didn't have to witness the other disgusting things his body had become.

As she looked him over he drew the large sword he had hanging at his side.

"I don't think me Master would be too pleased to see two uglies like 'urselves walkin' his 'allways," he sneered.

Erza braced in response, drawing her weapon and hearing Siegrain shift behind her, probably doing the same. Like she couldn't take out one stupid runt of the Duke's.

She thought too soon though. Putting two scarred and mauled fingers to his lips, the man gave out a shrill and loud whistle, only for the multiple doors around them to crash open, more distorted -and also armed- men filing into the room. _3... 5... 9... Shit!_

She risked a glance at Siegrain, who had shifted slightly closer to her. He twirled one of the blades in his hand as he quickly spoke.

"If I turn my back on you, will you stab me through it?"

She was too distracted and caught off guard to understand him. "Wai- What?"

"If I turn my back on you, _will you stab me through it_?" His eyes burned again as he spoke.

A split second pause. "Only if you don't stab me through mine."

He actually managed to crack a smile. "Deal."

She couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her as he suddenly swung around, her shoulders hitting his torso as they crashed together, back-to-back and both facing half of the Duke's men. She had never thought fighting back-to-back was a literal thing, but had to admit that the warmth and weight of his body against hers was strangely reassuring. There was not much time for her to enjoy it though, because that's when the men all surged forward.

_"Tell me again Erza. What are the first three rules of a swift victory?" Makarov's voiced boomed over the loudness of her weapons crashing onto Natsu and Gray's - both had been dragged outside to help her practice sparring against multiple opponents. _

_"One: Let your enemy do the fighting." She ducked as Gray whipped his wooden stick through the air at her head, causing the half naked 13-year-old to whack it straight into Natsu's face when she was no longer there to receive the blow._

A man with half of his hair burnt back to his scalp rushed her, thrusting his longsword straight at her stomach. As she twirled to the right he missed and overshot, allowing her to grab the handle over his own hands and thrust it further forward into one of his comrades who had been trying to approach her from behind, successfully stabbing him through the chest. Hand still trapping his own, she quickly raised the sword upward, using her free arm to elbow the grunt in the head and send him flopping to the ground.

_"Two..." She huffed when Natsu managed to land a strong blow, flicking her own stick from her hands and sending it flying a few good metres. "Anything is a weapon." She hastily ducked again when he tried to strike once more and grabbed a handful of dirt. Quickly rising, she flung it at Natsu's face, rushing to forcefully yank the Salamander's weapon from his hand as he yelled over the mud blinding his eyes. _

She was very nearly blind-sided by a toothless man with a ball-and-chain, though got her knife up just in time to block his strike. However, her blade became stuck in one of the links, snapping off completely when the man tried to pull back from her. Not having enough time to draw another knife, she gripped her remaining wooden handle and feinted to the side, smashing it harshly into his temple as she did so and grounding him instantly.

_"And finally?" He always tried to act tough and indifferent as he watched her fight, but Erza could still tell the Master was smiling at her progress. _

_"Three: Everyone has a weakness!" she screamed, knocking Natsu in the side of the head before turning to Gray. Gray was a good fighter, but he still hadn't learnt to guard his back properly, and she knew it well. Parrying his next few strikes she slipped around him, eventually ending the fight with the two boys face down in the mud. It was the first time she had succeeded in fighting them both back simultaneously, and it would become the norm from that day onward, no matter how improved the two ever argued they'd become. _

The next man unfortunate enough to run at her was still bleeding from a new wound in his right arm, which looked as if it had been hastily bandaged. _Could he make it any easier? _Both of her following two attacks hit him exactly there, and it was mere seconds before he screamed and dropped his weapon, allowing her to stab him through the neck with ease.

Turning to face the final man on her side of the room, she took in the great brute before her. Ripped as far as she thought his body would allow him, he held a huge hammer, which he began to swing in her direction. Each arch left a 'shwoop' in its wake as the mere size of the weapon began to make her back up towards the table in the middle of the room. As her lower back clashed with it she hastily flipped herself over the surface to the other side, glancing forward to spot Siegrain, who, standing over a mass of bodies, was simultaneously warding off the last two men around him, though as she watched his knife was flicked from his hand, flying across the room and clashing against the stone floor.

Hoping he had another knife, she was forced to turn back to her final enemy, the man -obviously not the brightest of his friends- having paused to stare at the empty space of table where she had been moments before. Finally glancing up and spotting her, he began to stomp around the stone slab, hammer waving menacingly all the while. She would have to use that speed issue of his against him. Taking her stance and preparing to spring forward, she waited for the direct opportunity to pounce-

-and almost screamed when Siegrain suddenly crashed against her back, huffing as he tried to back away -completely weapon-less- from his remaining opponent. Giving a sharp yelp himself when they connected, he seemed relieved to turn and see her rather than a mutilated face, and then his eyes shone.

"Give me something!" Her breath caught as his hand reached back to graze down her right thigh, quickly switching to her left when he realised there were no more knives there. Fingers catching the final one strapped to her left leg, he hastily slipped it from its sheath.

"Get ready." Before she had time to ask what for, he placed his left hand on her hip, moving them both in a half circle. As she turned to face the man he had originally been fighting, he used the momentum of his turn to violently throw her knife through the air, hitting the huge hammer man straight between the eyes. As she heard him loudly fall to the floor, she too surged forward, catching her unsuspecting new opponent in the belly. Yanking her knife out, she watched him flop like a bag of potatoes to the ground.

_The Master's hand on her shoulder that day -despite being only a gesture- had been the most praise she had ever received from him, and she would still remember its weight even after he removed it to return to the guild hall._

Only her loud breathing seemed to fill the room, and, realising their victory she quickly fell to her knees, huffing in relief. Siegrain too was panting, and leant back against the table to catch his breath.

"I take back what I said before... Your knife skills are actually pretty impressive."

She couldn't help but start to laugh at the ridiculous timing the man had.

"You too." Pushing on her knees she rose again. "We still have to find the Duke though." She glanced down at the disfigured bodies around her. "This is just sick. When I find that son of a bitch, I'm going to-"

"Going to what exactly?"

She spun in shock at the weasel-like voice that echoed through the room, and found herself facing none other than the fat little man himself. As they both watched the Duke moved his porky legs over his fallen men, 'tsking' as he did so.

"Ah, my. Such a waste. Such a waste! But at least you made them look prettier before they died." He glanced up at her with a sick smile plastered on his chubby face and gave a little bow. "I do thank you for that."

"You sick bastard!" With a cry Erza threw herself from her position, flying as fast as she could towards the Duke with her knife raised. Getting close to him, she swung in a wide arch at his torso, though the man seemed to almost flop backwards to evade her, rolling unorthodoxly to stand a few metres away.

"Now that's not very womanly, you ugly slut."

"SHUT UP!" She gritted her teeth and lunged once more, though was shocked when her blade suddenly connected with another. Glancing up, she looked Siegrain in the face as he stood between her and the Duke.

"Sieg...rain?"

Siegrain's hair fell over his eyes as he looked towards the ground, before he moved his knife and thrust hers into the air, catching it in his hands as he had earlier that night and holding her wrists above her head.

"I'm sorry Scarlet Flash, but you don't have my permission to kill this man. He is living... and he is coming with me."

* * *

**Hahaha! TO BE CONTINUED! **

**This time, I tried to incorporate Duke Everlue's Dive Magic into the story through all of the underground passages, so I hope you picked that up ;D **

**Oh, I also hope you don't mind, but Jellal will be referred to as Siegrain (when chapters are from Erza's POV) for some time (by my rough planning -which is already screwed- until chapter 12) due to a thing I have planned later on. I know Jellal is a way hotter name, but decided I'd have to put my own love for Jellal's name aside to make the story actually work XP Sorry if Siegrain annoys you DX**

******Hmmmm... I've decided to rename my chapters, because my stupid prologue means that each chapter says "#No. Chapter #No. after" and it pisses me off D: So, yeah, don't be surprised if they suddenly change ;D**

**Anyways, as always, I'll try to update as soon as I can. Please review and look forward to the next chapter! :)**

**EvilTyrannicGoddess out!**


	5. Princess

**D: FORGIVE MEEEEE~! Exams only ended a short while ago and then it was partying and seeing people I hadn't seen in forever cause I was so cooped up and I only just got free now DX But, here is the next chapter. **

**Thank you for all of your kind reviews! I lovelovelove getting them, but... there are still more followers of this damn story than reviews! XD I don't get it... but whatever ;D**

**Now for replies:**

***TheCookieMonster77: Sorry for the cliffhanger! DX I tried not to do it here, so I hope I succeeded ;D**

***Aeria Swordlancer: * ^ * Love your reviews. I'm glad the fight scenes seem to be working for everyone... I try hard to write them so they are as clear as possible. As for Jellal and what he does... XD Read ahead for some hints :3**

***Ein011, EspeonLove, mjxecxjd, DIM-Everlasting Gaze, Alice, ILAUGHATYOUALL, NekoMataDemon, Lightmoon54, Hibisha, Guest 1 and Guest 2: Wow... So many of you! ^_^ Thank you for your support and kind words. You keep me going! *hugs everyone***

***penguin trainer: You're so nice! I'm glad you like Jellal. I truly believe that if in FT the ToH stuff didn't happen, he would have this personality. He sometimes shows it and I love it. Like, in one of his more recent appearances, that little smile and "need help?" for Erza ;D So awesome. As for the lemons ^_^" I have them planned out and practically written and I want to publish them so badly, but I can't just because of the story. As far as my planning goes, you should get some pretty hot action in chapter 9/10, so look forward to it ;D There will be some smaller, more innocent things before that though. **

***Elisablackcat: Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry if I get a bit graphic at times, but I'm glad to hear you're really enjoying the story. Have fun with this chapter :3**

**Well, I think that's everything, so on with the show! I dedicate this chapter to all of the pink-haired characters in FT, because two of my favourites appear now :)**

* * *

Silence. Such deafening silence. And then-

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

She didn't miss the flinch that flickered across his face before he recomposed himself and returned the glare she was heatedly sending in his direction.

"Whether you like it or not Scarlet, I'm doing my job."

"Oh! I get it!" She let her sarcasm drip as heavily as she could. "Sorry for misunderstanding, I just assumed the Duke here was a complete asshole mutilating girls. So glad to know I was wrong, and now that we have that settled why don't you just let me go so we can all get out of this hell-hole and have tea back in the library."

He didn't seem too impressed. "Don't make this harder than it has to be. Back off and I'll just leave you to whatever else you need to do."

She clenched her fists in his grip above her head and flicked her right leg forward to brace it against his own. "And if I don't?"

His tone grew just as dark as hers. "Then I'll take you out."

"So be it."

He had to let go of her wrists, and that's when it began. As soon as he released them to get a proper grip on his knife she moved her right leg, catching his own and unbalancing him. Rather than falling over he chose to turn and roll into a crash dive somersault, pushing up from his hands and knees to stand opposite her, both of them tensed and half crouched waiting for the other to make the first move. Erza felt her heart pounding in her ears and tightened her sweaty palm on her weapon handle: this man was far faster than any opponent she had ever encountered in her years as an assassin. Scarily so.

He moved a step to the right and she mimicked the action, blade flying up into an unnecessary safeguard when he twitched forward ever so slightly before deciding against the move and pulling back once more. Neither was going to give up their defence, and neither was going to risk their offence.

_How is this going to end?_

It was then that she spotted the Duke, who, seemingly confused about the two fighting youngsters in front of him had backed up to one of the walls and was slowly trying to sneak his way towards an exit. As his eyes caught hers he let out a little wheeze and pulled a knife from his side, backing quickly towards the doorway closest to him as he seemed to contemplate whether to stay and fight or make a run for it.

"Oy!" she cried, at the same time Siegrain turned his attention from her and let out an "oh no you don't!"

Forgetting Siegrain momentarily, Erza flung herself between the Duke and the doorway he began running for, aiming a quick slash at the man's neck, only to be jolted when Siegrain flew between them and caught her wrist. As she let out a cry of anger he turned and quickly smashed the startled Duke over the head with the handle of his knife, knocking the man out completely. Taking advantage of the wall near her, Erza kicked off with her right foot and used it as a springboard to flip around to the left, pulling Siegrain's arm backwards over his shoulder and forcing him to release her. From behind him she spun in a half circle on the ground and sprung back the other way, knife raised towards his back. _I have you now asshole._

She was startled then when he turned faster than lightning and raised his leg in a round kick: with no time to stop could only wait for his heel to connect with the side of her face and send her rolling across the floor towards the table in the centre of the room, the air flying from her lungs in a ragged cough.

If she could have it her way she would have preferred to just curl up into a ball and stay on the ground until the throbbing in her head and mouth stopped, but this was not her fight to lose. Spitting out the blood that was pooled around her tongue she forced herself to her knees, and, taking a deep breath, shakily stood up again.

From the other side of the room Siegrain watched with a slightly saddened expression.

"Just stay down... _please_."

She managed to shake her head. "Just hand over the Duke... _please_."

He sighed and turned away from her to grab the Duke by the back of his collared jacket, slowly beginning to drag the pudgy man towards the west exit and back to the library. He was disgracing her. The fact that he'd turned his back on her was a message that she was no longer an opponent of his; no longer worth his time and effort.

She wasn't about to let that slide.

Huffing the air out of her lungs she surged forwards once more. Hearing her, he turned back again, but wasn't fast enough to dodge the edge of her blade, which nicked him through the forearm. However, she too was not fast enough to stop the blade in his right arm, which quickly swooped down and caught her in the thigh as she flew past.

And holy hell, how it hurt.

There was no helping the cry that ran from her throat as she crashed to the ground, weapon forgotten as her hands came up to clasp the sensitive flesh and stop the blood that was already flowing freely down her leg. He hadn't gotten her very deep, but every time she tensed her leg to try and move the wound smarted and she was forced to stop, knowing one hundred percent that she was not going to be able to stand up again until she had at least rested it enough to stop the bleeding. Glancing up she spotted Siegrain, who, still at the wall with the Duke, was hissing as he clasped a hand over his arm just below the shoulder.

_I will not give up. I won't. I WON'T!_

Whimpering slightly, she used her right leg to slowly hop to her feet again, almost falling straight back down when the room spun ever so slightly. _Where is my knife?_

Spying it on the ground she stumbled over to grab it, but paused when she heard him whisper.

"Please... just stop."

He mumbled it so quietly she almost doubted whether he had said anything, but as he turned his eyes towards her she realised he had.

Replacing her slightly open-mouthed expression with a glare she spat out a "no", and began to shuffle towards her fallen blade once more. As she swiped it from its place near the foot of the table she turned and gasped as she realised he was right behind her, before he swiftly kneed her in her wounded leg and sent her to the ground. Trying to stop the tears that threatened to spill over she gripped her knife and pointed it up at him from her place at his feet, though he merely sighed and kicked it from her grip, sending it clashing away from her once more. Breathing heavily, she turned her head straight up and looked him in the face as he raised his knife up towards his head, handle facing downwards.

She strengthened herself as much as she could and waited for him to bring it down on her head, though as she watched she couldn't help but notice just how much his hand was shaking, or how despite the angry look on his face his eyes spoke different emotions.

He was hesitating.

_He... He can't do it.._.

She knew it was wrong to push him, but at this stage, with no hope for her at all to win or even get out in one piece, she only wanted to show no fear - to make him respect her even as he took her out. Preparing herself and forcing her lips into a smile she looked right into his conflicted eyes.

"Do it."

His grip tightened and he raised the blade higher, though despite this his face became a little softer, and -dare she say it- frightened. Just what was running through his head? She would give almost anything to know.

"I said do it!"

Stillness. Such moving stillness. And then-

_I can't believe he won't even hit a woma-_

There was a sickening crunch sound, and everything went black.

* * *

The stone roof met her gaze as her eyes slowly flickered open, head pounding to the rhythm of her heart and leg feeling as if someone was standing there holding a hot poker against it. She tried to form coherent thoughts, though her brain seemed to be abandoning this in favour of a steady moan that she suddenly realised she was making aloud. And then with a snap it all came back to her.

_Asshole!_

She sat up too quickly and fought back the urge to gag as the room spun and her senses went haywire, before she leant forward and rested her head between her raised knees. One slow breath. Another._ Let's just keep it together Erza._

Finally pulling her head up once more she realised that she was on the stone table in the room they had fought, and that he and the Duke were gone. Moving to check her leg she stopped when she noticed that her pants had been ripped from the thigh down, the scrap of material tied tautly around her wound.

_Did... Did he bandage me?_

This idea itself brought on a flurry of mixed emotions, though she settled with just being pissed that he had beaten her and then touched her whilst she was out cold. Oh, the ways she would get him back if she ever had the misfortune to cross him again. Sure, he was fast... he was skilled, but she could train. She could be faster, stronger, more-

"Hello. Is anybody there?"

She froze. The voice was so faint she had barely heard it, though it had definitely been there. Rolling quickly from the table she almost buckled when she forgot about her stupid leg and landed with her full weight on it, though caught the edge of the stone slab just in time to steady herself. Of course! The kidnapped girls! She had been a fool to forget about them. Shuffling quickly to the nearest of the wooden doors she flung it open-

-and met emptiness.

_What?_ Trying the next door along she discovered something similar. Both rooms only held a number of stone poles with metal chains slung between them, though where she expected to see the girls bound there was only a pile of abandoned cuffs._ He couldn't have..._

_No._ Moving to the north side of the room she opened the doors there to find even more empty cells, and was just about to try yet another door out of desperation when she heard it again.

"Please."

Following the sound of the soft voice she limped through the empty cell to a tiny door on the other side. It looked heavy and well secured, though a line of metal bars provided a peeping hole to the small cupboard-sized room beyond. Standing on tiptoes she peeked over the rim and almost cried out at the sight on the other side.

There was a small girl in the cell beyond, flamingo pink hair greased with dirt and sweat and barely held in place by a maids cap. She was bound to the wall beside her by two thick chains that were handcuffed around her wrists, her bright blue eyes almost appearing unseeing as she gazed up at Erza through the darkness. Her voice was a scary monotone as she spoke.

"Princess, please help me."

_Princess?_ The poor girl must be traumatized. Backing away from the door Erza reached into her pockets and found her picks -luckily Siegrain hadn't stolen them, the bastard- only to reach forward and almost fall flat on her face when the door simply swung open at her touch. Crawling forward the few metres to the girl, Erza reached up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay? What's your name?"

The girls stare was somewhat frightening, being completely empty. "Virgo, princess. I am fine, princess."

Erza just felt flustered at this point. "There's no need for the "princess". Can you tell me what happened? Where are the other girls?"

"The blue-haired man set them free, miss. He came and removed their shackles and told them to head east in the passage. Then he left."

"And he just left you here?"

Virgo shook her head slightly. "No miss. He opened the door and tried to help me but my chains have no keyhole." At Erza's glance Virgo pulled her wrists forward and Erza blanched at the sight of the cuffs secured around them. It was true that there was no keyhole, rather the shackles seemed to be welded straight onto the poor girls skin, white and puffy flesh beginning to pucker around either side of the braces.

"He couldn't get them off. He said he was sorry but he had to leave."

Erza bit down her want to throw up, choosing instead to move to the wall where Virgo's chains were attached. Seeing the thick links that secured them only made her more disheartened, but she knew without a doubt that she would not be leaving without this girl. If the others all managed to get out then good for them. She knew they would find their families as soon as they reached the end of the secret tunnels back in Shirotsume, but this girl would be the only one who couldn't. Twisting back around to Virgo's arms, Erza tried to settle her squirming stomach and reached out to grab the girls wrists. She had barely begun to poke around the cuffs when Virgo let out a very monotone "ow".

"That hurts."

"I'm sorry." So there would be no removing the cuffs. Fine then. She'd just have to detach them from the wall and take the girl to the guilds medic as soon as she got back. Sliding back to the wall, Erza pulled her knife from her side (wait... how had it gotten back into her sheath? Had Siegrain...?) and began to try and turn the screws securing the sheet of metal with Virgo's chains to the wall. The silence that enveloped them almost made her shiver, so she struck at the first topic that came to her head.

"So, you're from Shirotsume, right Virgo?"

"No miss."

Erza waited for a good half a minute before she realised that was the only information she was going to get without pushing further. The girl seemed to be kind of odd socially, though she couldn't decide if it was her normal personality of if the creepy Duke had done something to turn her into this.

"How did you end up here then?"

"I was fired from my last job miss. The Duke was hiring a maid, so I applied and gave him my name and a picture. He said I was beautiful and that I was hired. When I got here he said he was wrong and I was ugly and he locked me in here."

Erza stumbled over the lack of details for a minute. "Wait... So he hired you and then didn't like what you looked like when you arrived?."

"He saw an old picture of me. I looked different by the time I arrived to begin work."

"Different how?"

"I was fat before."

Man, this girl was blunt and awkward. Pretending to focus on a particularly hard to turn screw Erza managed to avoid saying anything for a few minutes, before that became more unbearable than conversing with the girl.

"You said you were fired. Where did you work before?"

"I was hired by Mr. Jude Heartfilia miss."

She almost chocked. "Wha- Wait a second? Heartfilia? You worked for Lucy?!"

"Princess Lucy lived with her father at that time, yes."

So that was it. When Lucy left and robbed her father it must have in turn caused Virgo's retrenching. However, that also meant that Lucy would know more about the girl and perhaps what to do with her. With a final grunt, she pried the last nail from the wall, falling back in exhaustion as the metal planks clattered to the ground and Virgo was at least free in the sense that she could walk from the room.

Standing on her own dodgy leg, Erza helped Virgo up, the two moving as some sort of barely-capable-of-walking unit out of the cupboard cell and back into the main area. Recalling the door that both she and Siegrain had entered what seemed like years ago, Erza shuffled Virgo to the one opposite, and together the two shakily moved down the hallway beyond. She couldn't say how long they walked for, though just as she wanted to take a break to rest her leg they came across a set of steps rising up into the roof above. Practically dragging each other up them, they pushed the trapdoor above aside and rolled out onto the ground, huffing and aching all over.

"Hey! We have another one!"

Erza cracked open an eye and found an ageing man leaning over her. _Must be a citizen from Shirotsume._ Before she could argue, hands grabbed at her shoulders and she was lifted and carried from wherever they had emerged and into a well heated house nearby. She had the feeling that the people around her wanted to talk and ask her questions, but she was way past having the energy to do anything but sleep. Settling in front of the fireplace, she shut her eyes and drifted off.

* * *

The weight of the Duke on his shoulders and the slight sting of his upper arm was really doing nothing to help him forget the previous night as he trudged heavy step after heavy step up the trail before him, heading towards the clearing he knew he would find at the top of the hill. It certainly wasn't the first time he had been in such a situation, so why did this particular trip feel so different?

Well, he knew the answer, and that within itself annoyed him even more.

He was still -yes, _still_- worrying about her.

Why though? He had been on jobs before where he had run into other people, and it had never bothered him that he was required to remove them from the picture. She shouldn't -wouldn't- be any different.

And yet it felt like she was.

He was so deep in thought that he almost missed the rustling of the undergrowth to his left. Almost.

A smile graced his lips. "I know you're there, so just come on ou-"

"JELLAAAAAL!"

A bouncing mass of pink curls flew from the bushes and slammed straight into his side, Meredy's arms coming up to grab him in a huge bear hug as he unceremoniously dumped the Duke's unconscious body into the mud so that he could wrap his arms around her waist and swing her in a circle. He always loved Meredy's undying happiness that was so very, very contagious.

As he set her down her eyes fell on the lump of a man at their feet, and she quickly squatted to give him a sharp poke.

"Hmmm... I already don't like him, and he hasn't even spoken yet."

He snickered. "Where's Ultear at?"

Meredy spun on her heels and pointed up towards the crest of the hill. "Trying her hand at dinner again." Jellal moaned aloud before he could help himself and Meredy giggled and turned to give him a huge smile and a wink. "Welcome home."

First the mess from last night and now Ultear cooking -if it could really be called cooking- dinner? He mentally pondered if his day could get any worse when he entered the clearing at the top of the hill and Ultear turned to look at him.

"Hey Jel- What's wrong?"

_Damn..._

Trust Ultear to notice straight away that something wasn't right. She knew him too well for his own good. However-

He slid his eyes to the side. "Nothing. What are you talking about?"

Ultear rolled her eyes as she turned her back on the crackling fire she previously been tending to. "Nothing my ass. Come on, spit it out or you're not getting any dinner."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "If you made it I don't want any dinner."

"Ha ha ha, very funny." She gave him a deadpan glare that made his soul squirm and he just decided to get the coming conversation over and done with.

"I... I ran into someone last night in the Duke's mansion."

Ultear maintained a steady expression as she seemed to think this over. "So? Not the first time that has happened, right?"

"No, but, I guess this time I just felt bad having to take them out."

"Who was it?"

He avoided trying to get into specifics. "I don't know, just some guild worker." _Just some? Unlikely..._

"A guild worker? Why would a guild worker be in the Everlue mansion?"

"No, not a normal guild worker. Part of a black arts section of the guild I think. She was definitely trained to fight."

_Shit._ He hoped Ultear wouldn't notice his slip up.

Ultear raised an eyebrow. "_She?_"

_Damn it._

"Yes, _she_. Anyway, I don't thin-"

"So she could fight?"

He stumbled to form an answer as he was interrupted. "Wha- Yes."

"And she was in Everlue's mansion?"

"Yes."

"And she was after the Duke too?"

"Yes."

"And she was pretty?"

"Ye- Wait... what the fuck?"

He shot Ultear a tired expression as she began to chuckle. "Oh, come off it Ultear..."

Her smile could only be described as evil. "No. I don't think I will. This is far too interesting."

"What's interesting?" As if God himself was playing games with his life, Meredy chose that exact moment to reappear at his side, eyes quizzical as she looked towards Ultear.

"_Nothi-_"

"Jellal's found himself a girlfriend."

"Whaaaaaaaat!?"

"I HAVE NOT!"

Meredy's arms came around him once more as she practically jumped onto his back. "Oooooh! So when do we get to meet her?"

He let out a cry of annoyance into the air. "Never. Because there is _no_ girlfriend, and there won't _be_ a girlfriend!"

Meredy must have looked towards Ultear, because the two broke into a fit of giggles. _Uhg... I've already had enough of this._ Detaching Meredy from his neck he grabbed a new cloak from his small pile of belongings and marched from the camp, Ultear's voice following him with a trill "we'll definitely be talking about this laaaaater". He prayed with his entire heart that by the time he had walked and come back _she_ would be gone from his mind and Ultear and Meredy would have calmed down.

...If only things could go his way for once.

* * *

_If only things could go my way for once_, Erza thought as Virgo's head once again hit her shoulder. They had been patched up properly by the kind townsfolk of Shirotsume and provided with a cart when they had awoken, and were just arriving on the outskirts of Magnolia. Virgo had long since fallen asleep, her pink head bouncing up and down on Erza's shoulder every time the cart hit the smallest of bumps in the road. It had been a long journey, and Erza wanted nothing more than to quickly dump the maid into Lucy's arms, convince the Master not to talk to her about her mission and go home to stuff her face with as much strawberry cake as she could get her hands on.

Of course, none of that actually did happen.

The first thing that went wrong was that Taurus had decided to visit. Even on a good day Erza had issues with the openly perverted man, so she instantly knew that in her current mood all hell would break loose. He was leaning over one of the guild tables when they entered, fingering his prized axe and obviously hitting on Lucy, who seemed to have abandoned the book she was trying to read.

If being a pervert wasn't enough, Taurus also had a knack for gloating. He was a famous sellsword who had defeated a great monster back in his prime days. Hacking off the beast's horns and skinning it, he wore it's splotched black and white fur as a constant reminder of the apparently "amazing" and "life-threatening" battle he had fought against it. Erza supposed some might find his actions awe-inspiring, but personally she found that she couldn't take the man seriously when he had a huge pair of horns sticking out from atop his head, or a tail poking out from the back of his suit. Heck, he had even gone so far as to pierce the monsters prized bangle between his nostrils like some absurd nose ring.

Yes, she really couldn't stand the man, though at least she wasn't as bad off as Lucy. Though Taurus worked many jobs, he became infatuated with Lucy when he met her whilst she was out on a mission, and was obsessed with constantly visiting and vowing to work for her forever. Lucy took it in her stride and was always polite, though Erza could spot the intense amount of patience she had to exert to get through a simple conversation.

"Lucy-sama, you're looking fabulous today! Come have lunch with me!" Even from the other end of the guild hall Erza could hear Taurus' voice echoing over all the others.

Lucy sighed. "I'm a little busy right now Taurus. How about later?"

"But Lucy, I want to see your nice body in a lovely dinner dress."

"I just said no!"

"Luuuuucy!"

"Taurus, I swear... If you don't back off I wil-" Lucy cut off with a small scream as she was suddenly hoisted into the air, just as Erza realised that Virgo was no longer by her side.

"Princess, allow me to assist." Erza stared on in shock as she took in the sight of Virgo with Lucy held in her arms above her head. This reaction however, seemed doubly as strong for Lucy.

"V-Virgo!?"

"Yes princess. I am here princess."

Okay... perhaps Virgo was always just this socially awkward. Sighing and hobbling towards the odd group, Erza glanced up at Lucy from below.

"I... uh... I think I found someone who knows you Lucy."

"Erza!?" Squirming slightly, Lucy finally managed to get Virgo to set her on the ground. Now able to move freely she quickly attacked Virgo with a tight hug. "I'm so sorry Virgo! I was meant to contact you, but when I went back to the house they said you were gone." Her eyes suddenly flew wide. "You... You're so thin now! And-" A gasp. "Please don't tell me the Duke had you!?"

Erza nodded a confirmation when Lucy glanced her way and watched as the blonde tightened her grip around her old friend. "Actually. About that Lucy. You don't happen to know how to contact Virgo's family? She already needs to visit Porlyusica, and I thought her family might like to see her."

Lucy turned sad eyes in her direction. "She... well... she hasn't got any family. And wait... Porlyusica? Whatever for?"

Upon seeing Erza nod in her direction Virgo presented her wrists to Lucy, and they both watched as the blonde gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

"Oh my God. What the fuck did that bastard do to you?"

Erza moved slightly closer to get a better look at the ruined flesh of Virgo's wrists. "I think he melted the cuffs straight onto her wrists. I was hoping Porlyusica might have a way to remove them."

Casting a quick glance to the cuffs and then back to her face, Lucy nodded in agreement. "Don't worry about it Erza, I'll look after her from here. Thank you so much for saving her."

Okay. That was Virgo solved. Thoughts filled with strawberry cake, Erza turned and was about to walk away when Lucy spoke again.

"Hey. Are you okay? You don't seem your usual self."

_Damn it._ She sighed and forced a smile. "Of course I'm okay. Just a little tired I guess."

Lucy's expression turned to one of doubt before she seemingly decided to just drop the conversation for the time being. "Fine then. We can talk tomorrow. In the meantime-"

"Come on a date with me Erza-chan!" Taurus bellowed, forcing his way in between the two women and throwing a casual arm over her shoulder, hand far too close to her breasts for her liking. "We can talk about that time I-"

Whatever they would talk about she never did find out, for she used Taurus' arm around her to flip him over her shoulder and smash him into the nearby tabletop. The shocked eyes of Lucy and the others present in the guild all flew to her, but she ignored them, mumbling a quick "I'm going home" as she marched her way toward the exit of the guild. Stuff the Master... she'd talk to him tomorrow with a stomach full of cake.

Her head was already beginning to throb again by the time she made it to the oak doors. The Duke... His men... Virgo... Taurus... Siegrain... As if her day could get any worse!

With this thought in mind she harshly kicked open the guild doors, gawking as they flung open and smashed straight into a person standing on the other side.

"WHAAAAAT!? **MEEEEEEEEEN!**"

She could recognise that sickeningly sweet voice anywhere, and suddenly felt the urge to cry.

Her day, it seemed, could get a lot worse.

* * *

**Guess who!? XD Hahaha, I hate this guy, but I just had to bring him in. Next time will be some other light guild shenanigans, so look forward to it :P**

**I'm also glad I got to bring CrimeS into the picture. I mean, finally. Jellal can be as cool as he wants when he's away from them, but with those two he's a total dork XD Love those three. So sad about the last chapter. Poor Meredy and Jellal T^T Well, they can live on in here as far as I'm concerned, because I love them :)**

**I started brain-scrawling two chapters the other day. One is very steamy and I was having so much fun playing with ideas, but then suddenly I moved onto a sadder chapter D; Man... I'm going to cry when I write that one :/**

**Hahaha, enough teasers! XD Please read, review and look forward to chapter 5~!**

**That evil, tyrannic Goddess is outta here! **


	6. Awakenings

**T^T Before you all decide to gang bash me for taking over a month to publish this, I'd just like to say that... ( ._.) Ah, screw the excuses, just please don't be too mean to me, my writers block was phenomenal for this chapter DX It's a real transition chapter with masses of information dumped everywhere, so it took longer than normal to get out. And then there was this one part that just... arg... no matter how hard I tried would not come out properly. Many, many drafts gone by I eventually figured out it was because I was trying to write it from Erza's POV and it just wasn't working. So, you'll be getting a little bit of Lucy's POV this chapter. I hope you like it ;D**

**Thank you to all of you lovely people who leave lovely reviews, but thanks also to those who just type "update now damn it". You keep me going XD I still have more follows than reviews though o_O What is this?**

***EspeonLove, Thunderfall, Lou.D, fxwritersblock, Hiru to Yoru, mjxecxjd, DIM-Everlasting Gaze, Celtika82, 234: Glad you are enjoying things to date :) Hopefully you enjoy this chapter too!**

***Rainbows-and-Rainclouds, Hibisha, NekoMataDemon, Guest, Taintedrose, tic toc, neko, LeprechaunGreen: I have updated! *dramatic pirouette thingy* Please don't hate me! **

***TheCookieMonster77: Hahaha XD I love it when characters somehow bleed over into real life people we know. I hope you don't think you were waiting too long T^T**

***Raii-chan, Lightmoon54: * ^ * I'm glad you like the analogy I'm trying to make here, because I really do put in a lot of effort to convert everything over. Also glad to hear that the characters for the most part aren't that OOC. Unfortunately, because I've taken them out of their own world I find that sometimes very defining parts of their personality vanish. Virgo for example was quite hard. She's always just popping in and out whenever the hell she want to in the main series, so I have to focus hard to convert them as closely as possible. Nice to hear I'm not doing that bad a job ;D**

***Raining-skye23: Of course they'll meet again ;D As for when/where/how... well that's a secret :3 **

***GodSlayer'sGrace: Hahaha XD Glad to hear it ;D As for the chapter thing, I don't actually count the prologue as a chapter, so for me that one was chapter four and this one is chapter five :3**

**This hasn't been looked over incredibly well - only about 50 times. However, even after 50 revisions I still miss the smallest of typos, so if you find any please forgive me :/**

* * *

There was less than a five second pause before two soft, perfectly manicured hands grabbed her left one.

"My, my Erza-san. Your nails are lovely, as always."

Another hand on her shoulder as the owner slunk his fingers into her hair.

"You just had your hair cut, didn't you? N- Not that I was looking at it... or anything..."

Two petite hands tugging at the right side of her shirt hem.

"Arf! Just for today, I'll be your little puppy dog."

The cherry to top the already spoilt cake: the man she had hit earlier with the door appearing out of nowhere at her side and placing a hand on her thigh.

"My honey, your parfum is lovely! Ku ku~ Ku ku~!"

*twitch*

* * *

Lucy glanced at Virgo for what was probably the hundredth time in the last five minutes, brain still overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of her old friend and what had happened to her. Though she tried to make them look anywhere else, her eyes were once again pulled to Virgo's wrists where her ex-maid's cuffs stayed clasped, and she felt her nose wrinkle in slight repulsion. No... she couldn't be like that. Virgo needed her help more than ever, not someone who would look at her in disgust over something that wasn't her fault.

Her head was drawn to her immediate left as Taurus continued to try and pull himself from the rubble of the table he had been harshly thrown into, face slightly flushed as he hurried to straighten his clothes and preserve as much of his broken dignity as he could. Watching him pulled her face into a slight frown. What had been up with Erza just then? They had been close for quite some time, so naturally she had seen the red-head angry before, but her actions this time seemed completely over the top.

_She... She couldn't have failed her job request... could she?_

No. She shook her head slightly to clear such a ridiculous thought. Erza had never failed to complete a mission as long as she had known her, so there seemed no obvious reason why this job could have been any different. Either way, she'd be sure to catch Erza later and ask her if-

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

_What!?_

There was a split second pause before everyone in the guildhall turned to look at the large oak doors just as they came crashing inwards, Erza's fiery rage almost a palpable halo of fire as she stormed back into the building, some sort of fat white bundle dragging behind her. It was only as she got within a few metres that Lucy realised that it wasn't a bundle at all, rather a man.

A man with slick orange hair, a cleft chin and a smooth voice.

_Oh no. _

However... if _that _man was here, then that probably meant that-

"Good day, Miss Lucy"

She started slightly as her left hand was suddenly grabbed from the tabletop where it was resting, Hibiki leaning in to press a chaste kiss to her knuckles.

"H-Hibiki!"

"Heh". The hazelnut blonde flashed her a glorious smile that she couldn't help but return before his two partners in crime flanked both of his sides.

"Lucy-chan! Come play with me!"

"Your sense of style is just unbelievable." Ren paused for what seemed like a practised amount of time before he blushed and quickly turned his eyes away. "N-Not that I was looking you... or anything..."

A nervous sort of laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it. There were many, many things wrong with the men of the Blue Pegasus team known as the Trimen, but she couldn't deny that she didn't somewhat enjoy their over the top theatrics and flirtatious tendencies. She had just opened her mouth to ask what they were doing in the guild when a different cry cut her off.

"M-Meeeeeen!"

Turning around she once again spotted Erza, who had reached the bottom of the steps and was proceeding to try and kick Ichiya up them one by one.

"Erza! What are you-"

The second Erza's name slipped from her mouth the red-head flicked her gaze in their direction, both Lucy and the three young Blue Pegasus members jumping back a few good steps at her ferocious expression.

"He. Wants. To. See. The. Master." Erza ground out, trying to appear composed and relaxed even though it was completely obvious she was anything but. "I. Am. Merely. Helping. Him. Get. There."

Glancing around quickly and trying to find someone from the second floor to help her with her predicament, Lucy sighed when she realised she was the only one around. Turning and leaning in slightly to the other Trimen, she whispered a quick "you might want to get over there and help and just get out of here as soon as you can," before she remembered that Virgo was still sitting at the nearby table, waiting to be taken to Porlyusica. Deciding that she didn't really want to be around as long as both Erza and the Trimen were all under one roof, she was about to grab the chained girl and make a run for it when Hibiki suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

"Actually Miss Lucy, we didn't just come here to talk to Makarov. We actually need to speak to you, Miss Erza, and as many other... um..." His voice dipped lower. "As many other second floor members as we can."

If his words themselves -so serious and insistent- hadn't already convinced her that she needed to stay, merely the expression on Hibiki's face would have done it. His usual charming demeanour was gone, replaced by something far more disturbed, and, if such a word could be used with Hibiki, uncertain.

"What is it?"

His hand came up to give a little shake. "Hush. Not here." Placing a hand on her waist he proceeded to guide her to the second floor, his friends in tow.

She reached the landing just in time to see Ichiya crawling away from Erza on all fours towards Natsu and Gray, who were seated on one of the tables with both of their right elbows propping their arms up so they could arm wrestle. At the sight of Ichiya coming towards them both pulled a slightly disgusted face and tried to move to the far side of the table without actually stopping their game. Sighing at the situation that seemed to be getting so out of hand, Lucy decided to take control, and moved forward to grab Natsu by his ear, twisting hard.

"Arrrggg! Lucy!" Natsu cried out and then cursed when Gray took the advantage and slammed his arm down.

"Hah. See that? I'm stronger than you flame brain!"

"That's bullshit Glass Queen! You obviously paid Lucy to help you."

"Sore loser."

"Cheater."

"WILL YOU TWO..." Lucy paused as she realised the ferocity of her voice, and quickly moved to calm herself. "_please _stop this for a few moments. The Trimen have come quite a long way to talk to us, and I think it would be nice if we all _agreed to hear them out._" Trying to key the two clueless men in on the situation, she jutted her head sideways towards Erza, who was standing in the middle of the room practically spitting fire at anyone stupid enough to be within a five metre radius of her.

"I think you got a bit of a twitch there Luce," Natsu began, before Gray quickly shoved him in the back.

"Ow! What the hell was that-"

"Just get into Gramps' office."

Taking a deep breath, Lucy watched as the others all knocked on Makarov's door and let themselves in. Being the last she could have actually just turned and tried to slip away, but decided that she would stay, be it only for Hibiki's sake. He had seemed genuinely stressed before.

But what about?

* * *

Erza was not happy.

Not. Happy.

Her trip home had been ruined, she had been basically assaulted by the most annoying man on the face of the planet, and now this: being stuck in a small, cramped office with her friends and the four stooges. Heaven help her, there had better be a pretty darn good reason she was still here.

She was surprised then when there actually was.

Hibiki -the only member of his group who hadn't already taken a seat- moved to the centre of the tiny room and quietly cleared his throat. "I know you'll have a lot of questions, but I'm just going to tell you straight out: The Oracion Seis have come out of hiding. They're on the move."

To an outside observer the reaction of the Fairy Tail members could have been almost comical: Lucy gave a little squeal that she hastily tried to pass off as a cough, whilst beside her Gray _actually _began coughing when he choked on his own spit. Makarov's eyes went as big as saucers, in competition with Erza's, whose were just as large as she leant over and whacked Gray across the back a few time. Only Natsu didn't react, rather titled his to the side ever so slightly with a small mutter of "who?".

Giving them a moment to compose themselves, Hibiki continued.

"Do any of you remember Karen?"

Erza nodded, vaguely recalling the green-haired woman she had only met a few times before at annual guild meetings. She had a similar hobby to Lucy; was gifted with locks and security systems and the like. The black arts section of the Blue Pegasus guild was more known for promoting teamwork though, so in the few instances she had met her all Karen seemed to be able to do was brag about incredibly tough missions she had taken on with "nobody important" and managed to complete.

"Well." Hibiki's hands shook slightly at his sides. "She's dead."

_What? _Erza glanced around at the other Blue Pegasus members, all of them doing their best to look at the walls or the floor; anywhere but into the faces of the people around them. She opened her mouth just as the others did, joining in their chorus of "how?".

The host swallowed harshly. "She took on a job a few days ago to transport a group of citizens trying to travel from one side of Fiore to the other. There had been a warning in the news about a certain town that had been having trouble with a group of bandits, so the people wanted a bodyguard of sorts just in case. Naturally Karen took Loke with her-", Erza didn't miss Lucy's sudden twitch at the mentioning of her friends name, "-and everything was going smoothly until they came near the Worth Woodsea."

The Worth Woodsea? Erza squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to remember that part of the Kingdom. Was there even anything out there? No... there was that strange six-legged tower, but it was a ruin that had been untouched for years.

"When they got there the cart was suddenly attacked by two people. Loke tried to protect Karen, but one of the attackers hit him with something - some sort of dart. He apparently started seeing things and began screaming like he was in pain. Meanwhile the other - a woman in white apparently- h-hit Karen from behind... and..." Hibiki trailed off with a choked voice.

Seeing his friend struggle, Ren finally spoke. "You can guess the rest. The two then took the passengers Karen and Loke had been protecting and left. That sums up everything we knew two days ago."

Erza leant forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "This came from Loke yes? Did he wake up and return to the guild?"

A nod. "Yes. He's still... Well, we've been forced to keep him confined to the infirmary because whatever he was injected with still seems to be affecting him. Poor man keeps claiming that Karen's ghost is following him around blaming him for her death." Ren pulled a face. "However, Loke did provide us with all of the information we needed to search the area they were attacked."

"And that turned up the Oracion Seis?" Gray's voice sounded slightly disbelieving.

"Not immediately, no. At first we found nothing, though then out of desperation we moved surveillance to the old six-legged ruin, and that's where we found them. All six Generals were there; it seemed as if they were looking for something, though we couldn't really get close enough to be sure."

"I have a few questions." The sudden gruff of Makarov's voice made them all jump slightly as they remembered his presence. "This gang, the Oracion Seis... Aren't they notorious for attacking churches?"

Ren opened his mouth to speak, though Hibiki finally seemed to find his voice again and replied first. "Yes, that's them... the one and only."

Makarov rubbed at his chin. "Why then would they choose to show themselves and potentially blow their cover to attack a cart merely passing by?"

"We're still trying to figure that out too. The only plausible theory we have at the moment is that perhaps one of the citizens being transported is connected to a church in some way, though we don't have enough details on them to confirm this."

"Hmmm." Erza caught up to the Master's train of thought in time to predict his next question. "Could you tell us who the passengers were?"

There was a slight pause as Hibiki glanced at his fellow guild mates. "Well, usually we swear an oath of costumer confidentiality, but considering the circumstances I believe we can overlook it." He turned to look at Eve. "You were the one looking at the job with Loke and Karen, right Eve?"

The short blonde nodded. "Yeah. There were four passengers that were travelling and I don't think any of them were related in any way. One was a man by the name of Scorpio, another a woman called Aries, and then there were two twin children... Umm... Gemi and Mini if I remember correctly."

Erza frowned at the normal sounding nature of the people. Her head was still aching somewhat, so she decided to cut straight to the point. "You've come here to request our help in taking down the Oracion Seis and finding your lost customers, am I correct?"

The eyes of the Trimen all flew to her.

"My honey!" She blanched at Ichiya's disgusting tone, but resisted the incredibly strong urge to punch him. "The parfum of teamwork calls to us for this mission! We also hope to gain the help of Lamia Scale, and the power parfum known as Jura."

They were going to get Jura's help too?

"If it's a tracker you need, it would be best to seek Jura's assistance." Makarov rested his face in his hands and nodded. "However before I commit my members to your team I'd like to know who was responsible for the sighting at the ruin. Forgive me, but people sometimes aren't the most reliable of sources."

Hibiki nodded. "That's understandable, but you have nothing to worry about. It was Christina we sent; she was the one who saw them."

"Christina?" A curt nod. "Very well then, you have my permission to ask as many of my members to assist as you like. Natsu, Gray... I take it you will happily volunteer?"

"Sure thing Gramps!" Gray jumped up from his position in the corner and clenched an excited fist.

"Who're we fighting?" Natsu began, though seemed to suddenly realise mid-sentence that the term 'fight' was included and grinned widely. "Ah who cares... I'm all fired up!" Mind made up, he bolted for the door before anyone could stop him.

Watching Natsu disappear and sighing, Lucy spoke up. "I- Well... I'd like to help but I don't think you'll have any use for me. I also have a friend that I... That I need to be with at the moment. Sorry."

The Trimen had already begun to shake their heads before she had finished her sentence. "Actually, we would like you to come along just in case," Eve stated, "From what little information we gathered about the ruin from archaeological texts it would seem the six-legged tower has a number of different floors and rooms rigged with traps. You never know when your talents could come in handy."

"Besides," Hibiki flicked the blonde a smile, "You've been training with that whip of yours, right?

Lucy blushed every so slightly. "Okay then. If that's so, then of course I'll help. Just give me a little while to get ready. I suppose I'm going to have to ask Mira to take Virgo to see Porlyusica." Nodding to the master and then Erza, she stood and walked from the office.

And that left them all to look at her.

"I'm not going."

The plain shocked sadness of all four Trimen's reactions almost made her feel bad about it, but she was over everything right now and didn't need anything else added to her pile of crap to deal with.

"We... Uhh..." Hibiki seemed almost nervous. "We wouldn't be going straight away Miss Erza. You would come stay with us at our guild for a few days whilst we talked strategy and got Jura to come over from Lamia Scale."

She was already shaking her head before he finished, but when she opened her mouth to refuse more forcefully, was interrupted by Makarov.

"If you would be so kind as to give myself and Erza some time alone please." The Master motioned to the door and Erza watched with slightly confused eyes as the four men quickly caught on and hustled out of the study. When the door had been quickly slammed behind them, Makarov sighed.

"Is something wrong Erza?"

"N-No!" Why did she feel like a little kid being weeded out?

"Are you sure? You always come straight to my office when you return from a mission yet if I heard correctly from the loud clamour downstairs you tried to go home?"

"I'm just... tired I guess. I did a lot of travelling."

She tried to look the Master straight in the eye to convince him that her lie was a truth, but he stared right back just as intensely and it began to unnerve her a bit. She was about to pull her gaze away when-

"Erza, it's okay to not complete a mission."

"NO IT'S NOT!" She startled herself somewhat with the sudden loudness of her voice. "I- I fucking screwed up. _Me. Me. I screwed up. _Erza Scarlet doesn't 'screw up'!"

"You are too critical on yourself Erza. Sometimes it is good to fail. It teaches us humility and makes us stronger."

"No, it means that poor women like the ones in Shirotsume continue to be taken!"

"So you didn't find the man responsible or the women?"

"No, they're fine," she quickly mumbled, before realising exactly what question that was prompting.

"Fine? I don't understand then. That was the briefing for the mission and you completed it. What went wrong?"

"I didn't get the Duke, that's what!" she spat. "If it wasn't for that stuck-up, good for nothing son of a bitc-"

"Who?"

"-h whogoinmawah... Who?"

Makarov's stare became more intense. "Was there someone else in the Duke's house Erza?"

Like hell she was going to admit that some man had bested her. "No. Who said that?"

A sigh. "Well, lies or not Erza, if the women are safe you have nothing to be so angry about. That being said, I would like you to accompany your friends on this mission."

"But Master, I-"

"Erza. I didn't want to admit this in front of the others, but this entire situation scares me. This gang do not just turn up every other week. The fact that they attacked guild workers knowing it would draw attention to them, as well as the fact that they let someone like Christina -as amazing as she is- find their location tells me two things. Either one, they are so desperate to find whatever they are looking for in the Woodsea that they have become sloppy, or two, that this entire thing is a set up to draw someone in. Quite frankly, I don't know which I'd prefer, though I do know that everyone will be fifty times safer if you are there."

Erza sighed, knowing she couldn't possibly refuse now.

"Fine then. I'll go."

"Thank you. I am truly grateful Erza."

"Yeah, yeah." She sighed and gathered herself up, heading to the door. She expected her friends to be gone and the Trimen all quietly waiting in the room outside, so was rather shocked to leave the Master's office and find everyone all huddled around the table in the middle of the floor.

"Erza!" Natsu screeched as soon as he spotted her. "Teriyaki's cloned himself!"

Hibiki, from behind Natsu, gave her a tired look. "It's Hibiki, and for the fiftieth time Natsu, I haven't cloned myself. It's all just me."

Erza sighed. "What's going on?"

"It's amazing Erza!" Walking around from the far side of the table Lucy reached over and handed Erza a small palm-sized black device with a stick pointing out of it. "Hibiki made it. It's a box that allows you to talk to people you can't see! He's called it a- Ummm... A-" She glanced at Hibiki for help.

"A walkie talkie Miss Lucy." Erza yelped and jumped back as Hibiki's voice resonated from the device in her hand rather than from his place near the table.

"Ho-How did you do that?"

The host smiled. "A little invention I perfected last month. Each box is charged with Lacrima, and you use them to talk over long distances. Well," He paused to look at his own device resting in his hand, "They work over some distance. You can't be too far away though."

"It's incredible..." Completely absorbed, Erza lifted the device closer to study it. "You truly are smarter than you look Hibiki."

Hibiki smiled for a short moment before suddenly stopping when he realised he may have just been insulted. "Well, you will have more time to play with them back at our guild. I think it would be smart if we all carried them during the mission in case something goes wrong."

Erza nodded along. "I agree. This could really give us an edge in a ruin so large. Speaking of which though, do you have an entire plan for this mission already, or were you looking for our assistance?"

"Well, we definitely have a draft - let's just say that. However a lot of it relies on Jura being available and tracking the Oracion Seis' hideout for us."

"Hideout...? What?" Perhaps she has heard incorrectly.

The blonde man scuffled a foot. "Well, you see, the Oracion Seis appear to not be staying in the ruin, merely searching it. We believe they have a temporary camp hidden somewhere in the forest, but have no way of finding it quickly. That's why we were going to get Jura's help. No one knows the Earth or can track as well as he can."

She nodded, resisting the urge to sigh at how over the top the whole development was becoming. "Okay then. You planned to head to Lamia Scale today?" A nod in response. "Then let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get to the Woodsea, the sooner we get this over with and get home."

Nobody was willing to argue with her over that.

* * *

Jellal lay on his back in the wet grass, not caring that he could already feel the moisture from it seeping through his thin shirt. He was exhausted to say the least, but more than that, he was just plain annoyed. Annoyed because after all of his hard work; after breaking into that forsaken mansion, finding those underground passages, after hurting _her_, the Duke had turned up nothing at all.

A dead lead.

He let out an annoyed yell and ran his hands over his face. Months of finding people to interrogate and time spent making plans for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And now, to make matters worse, he didn't seem to know where to look next. It had taken him weeks alone to even trace a story to the Duke, and that had been a long an arduous process within itself. No, he didn't feel like repeating that again.

_So what do we do?_

"Jellal?"

He couldn't be bothered getting up, so instead arched his back to look at Meredy from the ground, the upside-down-ness making him feel slightly sick, though he ignored it.

A sigh. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Actually, this is serious. We just got back from the meeting."

_Fuck! _He had completely forgotten about that. Rolling over and quickly getting to his knees he gave Meredy his full attention.

"Yes?"

"Well, I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but..." Meredy paused for a second. "The Oracion Seis are on the move."

Her words hit him like a hammer to the head.

"No!"

"Yeah. For some reason they've just started appearing in the Worth Woodsea at the six-legged tower, looking for something."

Of this was perfect. A better lead couldn't have been presented to him on a platter. Grinning slightly, he stood.

"Do you have any idea what they are looking for?"

Meredy shook her head. "We weren't told. Though if a gang that usually attacks churches because they don't worship Zeref suddenly begins searching an abandoned ruin... Well, I'd bet your new girlfriend it's related to Zeref."

He ignored her attempt at a joke due to the seriousness of everything else she had said. He was right, it was simply perfect. Too perfect to let slide by.

"I think it's time we were properly introduced to the Oracion Seis, don't you?"

"Ummm, well." Meredy paused to kick at a small section of the ground at her feet. "Ultear and I have been called back."

"Called back? What do you mean called back?"

"Unfortunately this event -whilst good for you- isn't good for us." Ultear's voice echoed out over the hillside as she joined Meredy on his left. "We won't be able to join you because the Seven Kin have all been called together. We can't refuse Jellal. I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No way... No fucking way. Why now?"

Ultear sighed. "I don't know, he won't tell us anything until we return, but he's serious. More serious than I've seen him in a long time."

There was silence for a while as they all tried to think it through. "Could he just be concerned about the Oracion Seis?"

Meredy shook her head, sending her pink curls bouncing. "He didn't seem upset today, did he Ul? In fact, he almost seemed happy about it."

Ultear nodded in agreement. "We'll try and get to the bottom of this and return as soon as we can Jellal, but for now be on your guard." Turning from him, she began to walk back towards their camp.

"Whether we like it or not, Grimoire Heart is officially on the move too."

* * *

** - 3 Days Later - **

* * *

The dry soil cracked and crunched under her boots as they marched along the cliff-side overhanging the beginning of the woods. If they weren't here for what they were actually here for, Erza may have considered the Worth Woodsea a beautiful place. There was a quaintness to it, definitely, but knowing that somewhere in there a gang of six crazed murderers were wandering around didn't do much to help this appeal. Then there was the six-legged ruin that stood tall above the entire forest. She had tried not to look at it too directly: every time she did this sort of shiver overcame her, and she couldn't help but picture the deserted corridors and barren rooms that would be inside. Such things made her uncomfortable.

"Nirvana." She jumped ever so slightly as one of Jura's humongous hands came down on her shoulder, his eyes too locked onto the tower above the trees. Luckily, it had hardly taken any effort at all to convince the man to join them, rather, it had been harder when the other members of his guild had tried to come along too. She blanched just remembering the two hours they had all stood around watching Gray and Lyon go at each other, only for Gray to eventually give in under the condition that Lyon not be within ten metres of him at all times.

Wait... Jura was speaking.

"I'm sorry, what?" she mumbled, looking up at his towering figure.

"The old texts say that the six-legged statute was once called Nirvana." Jura smiled ever so slightly. "An interesting name, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I would." she muttered, gaze now forced back to the tower despite her want to not look at it.

Perhaps it was the shape that bothered her? It did kind of resemble a bug in some way. No... that didn't seem to be it. It wasn't the form that irked her, rather the feeling she got when she looked at it, but that within itself wasn't something she seemed to be able to describe. Repulsion? No... not that, because whilst she wanted to run she felt drawn to it at the same time.

Almost as if she knew something was waiting for her there, but couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing.

* * *

With a pant he dropped the pack he was carrying to the ground and fell to his knees. He had been hiking for most of the day to reach this stupid forest, and now that he was here all he wanted to do was sleep.

With half-lidded eyes he looked out over the forest in front of him, quite admiring it's simplistic beauty before his gaze was naturally drawn to the gigantic building that dominated the area. How could you miss such a thing?

It was strange, but looking at his destination caused an odd feeling to skirt through his body. He couldn't put a finger on it - couldn't identify it. It was unnerving though because he couldn't decide whether he liked it or not, and his intuition before a mission was usually right on the money. If this feeling had been a bad one he actually would have stopped to reconsider going.

But this was different: like a pulling sensation mixed with another that seemed to be pushing. Heh, like that was even possible. He was just contradicting himself.

Out of everything though, only one fact seemed to be clear:

He knew, just _knew, _that someone was waiting for him there.

* * *

**Whoo *sighs* To be continued~**

**Man, oh man, oh man. I seriously hope this was okay for you guys. I did dump a lot of crap onto you in one tiny chapter, so let me just really briefly run through a few small things that may have not been cleaned up as nicely as I hoped:**

**-Christina: Yep, she's real here. If you remember, in the real FT series Christina is Blue Pegasus' massive flying ship that does all of BP's tracking and magical tracing. In my world, she's a real-life woman who does the same thing... Basically, she finds people the guild needs to find. However, her talents are more based on going through facts and such to find her target - like the FT Christina that holds all of that data. That's why she can't track off-road as well as Jura, who is known for tracking animals and people in the wild. **

**-Lacrima: It exists here too for a similar purpose as in the main series: basically powers things. Electricity and the like doesn't exist, but Lacrima may be brought up every now and again to sub in as a power source, though I want it to be kind of special, so it won't be used for common items. Here it substitutes a battery of sorts. **

**-Hibiki: Hibiki's magic from the main series converted over here through his inventions. Obviously the walkie talkies are a play on his ability to transfer information between minds, and also his telepathy. He does has some fighting prowess, but this is limited, just as in the main series.**

**-The Oracion Seis: Their destroying of churches comes from the Key of the Starry Sky arc (the anime-only arc). Hopefully you got that reference or at least understood it. If not, sorry, but that's how they converted over into my story.**

**-Loke: Finally, before you all think Loke is a member of Blue Pegasus, he really isn't. Kind of like Taurus he's more of a travelling sell-sword, and also like Taurus (with Lucy) he was quite attached to Karen and would go do jobs with her. Blue Pegasus merely knows him and treats him like family. **

**Yeah, I think those were the only points from this chapter. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I'll try to answer, but please be aware that anything outside what I've just explained will likely be explained at some point in the story. Hence why I haven't mentioned it here ;D**

**Sooooooo, please read and review and look forward to chapter 6!**

**Goddess out~! *spins in a circle and vanishes***


	7. Night of the Six Prayers (Part 1)

**ETGoddess: Hey everyone~! I have a-**

**Readers: NEW CHAPTER! *all jump ETG at the same time, maliciously beating her* Give us the chapter bitch!**

**ETG: Waaaaah DX Here! Take it! Take it! *throws the chapter away from her and runs as you all go to get it***

**Wow... That was close. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews I got for chapter 5. Sorry for the delay -again :/- but I've been having exams for the last two weeks... so... yeah...**

***TheCookieMonster77, otaku03, Berri, imahappyperson: Thank you once more for such kind words. Like... seriously you guys, your feedback and reviews mean a lot to me, so keep them coming *CoughIstillhavemorefollowsthanreviewsCough* :3**

***Celtika82: T^T You give me hope~ I too do not like stories that rush too much or push relationships too early on, so even though this fic may take a little longer, I hope you really enjoy it and go with it. Calm baby, no need to rush ;D**

***EspeonLove, Night Kaida: Yeah, I know everyone is hanging out for Jerza. Well, I'm giving you a little present at the start of this chapter ;D I wasn't going to, but then I thought "Ah, what the heck". Enjoy, and look forward to what's coming.**

***Rainbows-and-Rainclouds: Thank you! And... Hmmm... Maybe ;D Read and find out :3**

***Guest 1, LegacyofBlood: Much thanks to you! Glad you enjoy and I hope you keep enjoying~**

***the-olive-pixie: Hahaha XD I was sitting in class when I got your review, so I read it and was like "Pffft... Silly reviewer... Like I made that mistake!" and then I read the chapter through again on my phone and freaked when I saw you were correct. Was agitated for the rest of the day until I could correct it XP So thanks for pointing that out! You'd think after reading it through that I'd catch things like that, but no... *sighs***

***blueberrybash: Hi there ;D Firstly, I'm surprised the chapter seemed so short... It was actually one of the longest to date I believe :/ I'm also really sorry for the time it takes me to update. Uni is taking up a lot of time, and I actually have a lot of commitments -both social and online- outside it as well, so though I hate it, this gets pushed down my priority list DX It's due to this that I also don't really have a specific time it takes to write each chapter. Could be out the next day, the next week or the next month. From the looks of it, it seems to take me about an average of 3 weeks per chapter. Again, sorry if this is annoying, but it's either this or not writing at all D; Sorry for the ambiguities about Christina. I updated my AN, so hopefully it makes sense now. Most importantly though, thank you for taking the time to express your opinion. It does mean a lot to me :)**

**So, without further adieu, I give you chapter 6. This chapter is dedicated to imahappyperson, who made me cookies (luv ya ;D) and otaku03, for a good kick in the butt XD **

* * *

Her eyes flew wide, chocolate brown irises taking in every section of the forest and the night sky that spanned out before her, colours too vibrant and too contrasting for her to take them seriously. The tree above her hung its branches low, bright purple leaves dancing in the wind; it was shimmering and sparkling to draw her in, wanting her to climb onto its limbs so that it could curl in on her and have her all for itself. Hah! Trees were so perverted sometimes. How come she had never noticed it before?

The brook she assumed was somewhere off to her right was whistling a night tune; one short and repetitive, almost broken with its many staccatos. It reminded her of Mirajane, and how she would sing as she did the dishes every night before heading home. She would ask Mirajane to sing for her again when she got back to Fairy Tail. A true promise to herself, the colour of green and tasting like the apples Bisca once brought to the guild.

Mother Nature was putting on a spectacular performance for her, but even then, all of her attention was on the blue.

Such a strong colour. It wove around her, clouding her vision and sucking her in with azure tendrils that caressed her entire body. It was lithe, but still dangerously strong, coercing her to move her body and harmonise with it. She wanted to open her mouth; wanted to ask why it was being so nice to her, but her lips seemed to be blocked and she couldn't get the words out, only managing to moan in some sort of pleasure.

Her core jerked and fluttered as she was moved from the ground, her fingers finding a smooth fabric that she happily ran her hands over, desperately trying to discover if something lay beyond. The blue was closer now, and she couldn't stop herself from reaching out to curl her fingers through it, the feeling as soft as she hoped it would be.

No, she doubted the blue was capable of disappointing her.

She gasped with hot breath as something moved into her mouth and ran itself over her tongue. It would have been suffocating had she not loved the sensation, so she let it stay, caving into its will. Her eyes closed as she moaned, trying to remember-

Remember?

Was there something she was supposed to remember?

The thought caused her to pause for a heartbeat, and that was all it took for everything to come crashing back. Like ice cold water thrown onto her face, her subconscious leapt back into her brain, screaming a warning that was all too important, but all too late.

Her eyes refocussed, all of the previous colours and sensations vanishing with a snap as reality set back in.

The reality that she was straddling Siegrain's hips as she sat in his lap, her hands resting on his bare chest where she had managed to unbutton the top section of his shirt. More importantly though, his hand knotted into the hair at the back of her head, holding her face steady as he ran his lips over hers, his tongue deep within her mouth.

The voice in her head called out again, and it was only then that she realised it had been crying out the entire time, and that she had merely been ignoring it.

_Just what do you think you're doing?_

* * *

**- 6 hours earlier - **

* * *

She had heard the rumours of Jura's abilities, but never in her life would Erza ever have imagined he'd be this amazing.

They were deep within the Woodsea, having been walking for a good portion of an hour. How Jura had managed to find the smallest trace of any activity among the mess of trees, roots and bracken still had her flabbergasted, but they all trusted in him and followed single file behind him as he marched them on.

"Would you two just shut up?" she hissed back at Gray and Lyon, who had raised their voices yet again -the seventh time since they had entered the woods- over another stupid squabble that didn't matter in the slightest. "You might as well march ahead and formally announce us to the Generals."

Gray shut his mouth mid-sentence, but must have been pretty pissed off about the whole situation, for he threw a sharp glare at both her and Lyon. Lyon himself opened his mouth to retort, but luckily Sherry swooped in, and, with a sharp tug of his arm and a "look Lyon-sama", drew the white-haired man's attention for long enough that the subject was dropped.

Erza sighed. It was completely ridiculous that they had allowed both Sherry and Lyon to come. Sure, both were skilled -Lyon arguably more so than Gray himself- but the two glass-wielders unmanaged disliking for each other, and Sherry's obvious enjoyment in tormenting Lucy, did not make them a very compatible team in the slightest. She'd have rather sacrificed the two and lost their skills than be found because they couldn't move more than four feet without having a go at one another. To make matters worse, Natsu had insisted -for God only knows what reason- that Happy should come along too, the blue cat sitting in his backpack with his head poking out, bobbing along with every stride Natsu took.

Then again, she wasn't really one to talk, having rushed to Jura's side and convinced Ichiya that as "second strongest leader" he had to trek at the back of the line to watch for potential threats. She shook her head slightly. Things weren't working out as she hoped they miraculously would.

She was so busy focussing on the others behind her that she failed to notice Jura suddenly stop, abruptly smacking straight into his back before she could stop herself; the others all managed to do the same behind her as if they were some ridiculous comedy train.

"I think you're getting blinder every time I'm forced to meet you Gray," Lyon spat as Gray rammed into him.

"I'm not the one with the squinty eyes buddy!" Gray shot back, recovering and quickly matching Lyon's height as the two sized each other up.

She was about to silence them once more when one of Jura's huge arms flew out to the side, the very gesture hushing them all instantly.

"Jura-san?" Lyon and Sherry slowly made their way towards their guild mate, stopping when they glanced in the same direction that the man was staring.

"What on Earth?"

Hearing Lyon's whisper, Erza quickly moved forward and looked beyond the trees that were blocking her view. She guess she had expected to see something destructive or gruesome, not that the tress would be black.

Ignoring the hesitant look Jura gave her, she moved towards the trees, Natsu and Gray right on her heels. Getting closer, it became obvious the trees had actually been coated in a thick black paint, some sort of curved characters carved with a knife into the bark.

"Oracion Seis' insignia" Hibiki muttered, joining her side and running a hand over the knife marks. "Why would they-"

"A curse." Jura's deep voice boomed from the right. "In the old days almost every guild would mark their respective territories with a similar method – insignias on signs and the like. This is a message for anyone approaching that the Oracion Seis claim ownership over all of the land from here on. The black trees though… I've only seen it once before. It was a curse that would be placed on all who walked past not bearing the mark of the guild."

"Curse?" Lucy's voice carried a fearful note that she tried to hide. "D-Do you think it's safe to continue? Perhaps- Perhaps there's another way?"

"If you're scared you can hold my hand." Hibiki sprung up on Lucy's right, already clasping her fingers with his despite her lack of response.

Rolling her eyes, Erza reached over and grabbed Natsu by his prized white scarf, Happy quickly jumping from his spot on Natsu's back as she lifted the Salamander from the ground and threw him a few feet past the cursed black tree barrier. Landing unceremoniously on his behind, Natsu turned to give her an unbelieving look before he suddenly began to cry out, rolling back onto the ground with both hands clasping his neck, eyes screaming pure agony.

"Natsu!" Lucy screamed. Breaking away from Hibiki, she flew past the barrier to Natsu's side, only to stop when the Salamander broke into a fit of childish giggles.

"Just kiddin' ya Luce."

"Stupid idiot!" Lucy blushed and smacked Natsu upside the head before gesturing back to the group. "Well then. Seems everything is okay. Shall- Shall we continue?"

Erza took a step forward to continue in the straight line they had been traversing before, when Jura suddenly called out.

"Wait just a moment." Glancing out to the side, Jura shut his eyes and listened for a good half a minute as the group all eyed each other, slightly confused. Until:

"This way." Starting off due east of the direction they had been heading, the group all reformed the line to follow, not confident enough with their current location to argue with the man.

They continued for at least another ten minutes, and just when Erza was about to question where they were heading, Jura pushed through a thick clump of undergrowth, walking out into a bright clearing beyond. Arriving shortly after, the first thing Erza noticed was the huge waterfall that ran to their right, torrents of water flowing over the edge of a rocky ledge and down into a deep gully below.

"Oh! We here or something?" Natsu's voice, in contrast to the previous silence, was like a foghorn.

"Silence!" Erza had rarely been rivalled in her ability to manipulate both Natsu and Gray, but she might have just met her match, Jura's angry tone silencing not only Natsu, but the others, who had also been talking behind him.

Gesturing to both her and Hibiki, Jura began to slowly move towards the steep side of the rocky ledge. Following and crouching, the trio carefully peered over the edge. The waterfall emptied into a basin below, flowing around -albeit not flooding- a small island that sat in the centre of the body of water. And there, hollowed into the side of the gully, was a wide wooden gate, opening to a large cave beyond.

"That's the hideout!?" She couldn't control the surprise that laced her voice.

Jura nodded silently in return. "I believe so. I was worried a few of the Generals might be here, but it would seem not." Turning, Jura waved a hand to the others still hiding at the edge of the forest, compelling them to join their side.

"How do we get down?" Sherry wrinkled her nose as she peered over the cliff-like ledge and into the space below. "I for one am not climbing." Shooting her eyes towards Lucy, she chuckled. "Let the dirty Fairies go down first."

Lucy turned at her comment, angry-eyed and probably more than ready to jump the pink-haired girl, but Erza was faster, stepping between them with a roll of her eyes.

"Fine. I'll go. Somebody brought a rope, right?" Her thoughts flickered to the hook and cable she had in her pack before she realised it would be far too short to reach the full distance.

Not hearing a reply, she turned to look back at the group, almost facepalming when she caught them all doing their best to either act as if they hadn't heard her or look at the others as if they would have the solution to the rope issue. She was surprised then when Sherry's face suddenly lit up, the girl running off into the woods before anyone could stop her.

For the next few minutes all they could hear was the snapping of branches before the pink-haired girl re-emerged, and it didn't take Erza long to realise her train of thought when she spotted a long loop of vines strung between Sherry's arms. Sherry was known for her foraging and crafting skills, those who knew her well claiming that she could manipulate nature or her environment to do as she pleased.

"Jura, your bow please," Sherry declared, though Jura had also caught on, and was already laying the weapon in her waiting hand. Threading the arrow through one end of the thick vine, Sherry pulled the drawstring back, took her aim at the other side of the gully, and fired. Despite the extra weight, the arrow flew rather nicely, sticking itself into one of the trees growing out of the cliffside above the water. Taking the other end, Sherry pulled her makeshift rope taut, tying it to the closest tree. With a smug sort of smile, she gestured to her handiwork. "After you, of course."

Already knowing she would be the guinea pig due to her earlier comment, Erza took a deep breath and approached the side of the ledge. Drawing one of her curved sheaths from her side, she slung it over the vine, and, before she could reason herself not to, kicked off and zipped down into the gully below. Waiting just long enough so that she wouldn't smash into the rocky wall at the other side, she released one hand, falling from the line and landing in the water beneath her. A hand waving to signal she was safe and several screams from the others later, and the group all stood at the entrance to the Oracion Seis' lair.

"This is important." Jura's voice always made things sound important. "Make sure you do not touch anything. We don't want the Generals to know we've been here." Erza didn't miss that his eyes lingered on Natsu, Gray and Lyon as he spoke. "Got that?"

"My honey." She grimaced as Ichiya appeared from nowhere at her side. "Let me guide you through the cave with the power of our love!"

She twitched…

… and Ichiya was subsequently put on door guarding duty.

With some help from Natsu they located a group of thick tree branches and lit the ends for make-shift torches, using them to light the way through the cavern. For a hideout, she had to admit it seemed rather bare. There didn't appear to be any sort of food storage, but then again, supplies would likely spoil easily, so the Generals would probably hunt and collect their food as they needed it. The same could be said for weapons; she assumed they'd always be carrying them, or at least hide them from prying eyes like hers.

Walking closely to one of the walls, she spotted a narrow cavern leading off to her right, and was about to enter it when Natsu's voice rang out.

"Quickly! Over here."

Hustling towards his voice with the Trimen close by, she was shocked to round the corner and find Natsu on the ground, a small, blue-haired girl cradled in his lap. The girl's eyes were shut, her face pale and bruised. On her legs -where Happy had perched himself- were a multitude of little circular scars, some freshly weeping whilst others looked old and almost healed.

_A child?_

Hibiki -to his credit- was the only one who didn't appear frozen on the spot, and quickly rushed to Natsu's side, placing a practised hand to the girl's neck and leaning in to listen for any breathing.

Sighing in relief, he pulled back. "It's okay. She seems to be fine. Merely unconscious."

The held breath of the entire group was released simultaneously as the level of tension dropped dramatically.

"I don't understand though." Sherry rested one arm in the other as she held her chin in thought. "Why would they take one of the twins but not the other?"

Hibiki shook his head. "This isn't Gemini. I don't know who she is… I've never seen her before in my life."

"Huh?" Sherry clucked her tongue loudly. "So they're kidnapping heaps of people then is it? What disgusting beasts." She motioned to the girls legs. "Just what have they been doing to her?"

"I'm not sure Milady, but I think this extends beyond just Blue Pegasus now. None of you found anyone else?" A collective shaking of heads. "Okay. I can only speculate that the others are with the Generals at the ruin."

To Erza's left, Ren's fist connected with the side of the cave wall. "Damn it all. We were hoping we wouldn't have to go looking there."

Eve nodded in agreement. "It doesn't seem like a good idea to go after them. They likely know the ruin now, and could easily trap us."

"Look at the girl though."Hibiki's eyes pleaded with his team mates. "She's as pale as a ghost. I'd hate to think what they've done to the others."

There was a loud sound as Jura grunted in agreement. "Hibiki-san is correct. It would leave a bitter taste in my mouth to know that we have given up before even trying."

"What about the girl though? We can't just leave her here."

Hibiki paused to think. "No. We can't. It would also be stupid to not move her. After all, the Generals could return at any time."

"We need to split up." Lyon provided the idea they were all thinking of, but were all too unsure of to say out loud.

"Are you nuts?" Gray pushed off from the wall he was leaning against and shot incredulous eyes at his adopted brother. "We hardly stand a chance against the Oracion Seis as is, and you want to reduce our numbers?"

"This isn't just about what you want. There're more factors now, so our old plans mean nothing. We need someone to look after the girl and others to go to the ruin."

"You're such a prick."

"At least I can put my own feelings aside and do what is necessary."

"ENOUGH!" Her voice flew out clean and harsh, immediately drawing the group's eyes and shocking them into silence. "I'm sorry Gray, but I have to agree with Lyon. Besides, we still have our walkie talkies, so we can contact each other and give regular updates. Plus, we don't know if the Oracion Seis is moving in a group at all. If we play our cards correctly we can stay as a group in the ruin and take them out one by one. None of us will be alone."

Glancing towards Gray, she awaited a reply, but continued when he gave a small nod of unhappy acceptance. "What is most important though is who should stay behind. I think it would be safe to have three people stay here at least. We can't be too small in number with the Generals around."

Nodding in agreement, Ren took a small step forward. "I'm against going to the ruin at all. If you don't mind, I would be happier staying here." The tanned man glanced to his left at Eve, who nodded as well. "Me too."

Before Erza could open her mouth to volunteer Ichiya, Sherry scoffed and spoke first. "I don't trust you pretty boys with a young and innocent lady. I'll stay as well."

Jura placed a proud hand on Sherry's shoulder. "Then it's settled. However, as Erza-san mentioned, I don't think it is wise to stay here. I think we should try to move the girl to a different location; get her away from this awful cave and out into the sun again."

Hibiki ran a hand over the girl's forehead. "She is rather cold. I agree with moving her, but you can't go too far or the walkie talkies won't be able to wor-"

"Everyone!" As soon as Lucy's voice cut through the silence behind her, Erza stupidly remembered that the blonde hadn't been present for the entire conversation.

"Look at this!" Catching everyone's attention, Lucy held up a thick sheet of ruined parchment, the dim light from their torches just managing to highlight a map of the ruin printed faintly on the surface. "There's a whole stack of things just like this on a table right at the back of the cave. I didn't get to go through all of them, but most of them appear to be maps of the ruins and the Woodsea."

"Hmmm." Eve moved forward and plucked the scroll from Lucy's hands. "Hibiki, if we could look through these whilst you guys all go through the ruins, we might be able to guide you if you get lost."

Sherry sprang forward to read over Eve's shoulder. "Or better yet, maybe they drew these out themselves to remember specific locations."

Hibiki smiled. "Okay. I think this is working out better than I planned. I suggest you three stay here, look after the little girl and see what else you can find. Don't stay here specifically for too long though, we don't want the Generals to return and find you. Give yourself say, an hour, and then take what you want and move out. If you can though, please stay near the ruin so we can contact you."

"Sure thing." Eve dropped a wink and Ren smiled at Sherry, quickly blushing and turning away seconds later.

"An excellent plan." Jura's praise set them all smiling. "But I think we should get to Nirvana before it gets dark. It will be harder to sneak about if we have to worry about torches."

Nodding excitedly, Lyon, Gray and Natsu all made a dash for the cave exit, and, with a final glance at the little girl, Erza followed them out into the light.

* * *

Compared to the Oraicion Seis' hideout, Nirvana might as well have been a fifty foot glowing beacon. Crossing over the cursed line of black trees, the group -now three members lighter than before- swiftly arrived at one of the six almost leg-like structures that spanned from the main body of the ruin, which stood suspended high above the ground.

"How on Earth do you get into this thing?" Lyon muttered, casting a quick glance up and around the monstrous body of Nirvana.

He had a point. Only the six legs of the structure touched the ground, so moving straight into the centre would be next to impossible, unless they somehow developed a method of flying there. Looking up himself, Natsu must have had a similar idea, for he suddenly swooped down and scooped Happy off of the ground.

"Fly friend! Take us straight to the top!" With a dramatic leap of sorts he released Happy into the air, watching disappointedly as the cat fell straight to the ground with a loud 'plomp'. Seemingly giving up, he turned back to the group. "Well, I'm out of ideas."

Gray and Lyon both rolled their eyes at the same time -it was funny how similar they actually were when they weren't arguing- and Gray motioned to the giant leg next to them.

"I think we're going to have to climb this to get in."

Erza couldn't help but pull a face. "Look though." She gestured to the body of the ruin, where the legs curved in horizontally. "If we scale the legs we'll be completely exposed to anyone in or around the ruin for that entire length of the climb. We can't risk the Generals spotting us before we even get inside."

Hibiki nodded in agreement. "Christina managed to spot the Oracion Seis because they were out in the open as they were getting in and out of the ruin. It seems stupid of us to not use that mistake to our advantage and not repeat it."

"Or," Gray crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe the fact that the Oracion Seis had to use the legs to get into the ruin proves that there are no other ways in. A desperate man will go to desperate lengths to get what he wants."

Erza couldn't help but pause as Makarov's words from three days ago rang through her head. _Either one, they are so desperate to find whatever they are looking for in the Woodsea that they have become sloppy, or two, that this entire thing is a set up to draw someone in. _

"Meeeen." Her train of thought vanished almost instantly. "Do not despair. For Ichiya," The man paused to strike a pose with his two hands pointing in random directions. "Ichiya believes we can make it."

"If sensei believes, then so do I!" Grabbing Lucy's hand, Hibiki began to jog towards the foot of the leg. "Come Lucy-san. You can hold my hand as we climb."

Watching them go shortly before turning back, Jura held her gaze as they seemed to silently and seriously contemplate.

"I think this may be the only way in Erza-dono. What do you think?"

She cocked her head to the side to ponder, but knew deep down she had always known the answer. "I think so too."

Hearing her, Gray stood a little taller. "Okay. Here's what I think. I say we climb this thing as far as we can until we have no cover from being seen by someone in the ruin. Then, as a group, we make a break for the main body. There's no point going one at a time, because if one of us is seen then everyone's cover is blown." There was a general nod and murmuring of yeses in reply.

The climb itself wasn't too difficult, the cracked and uneven surface of the ruin providing plenty of hand-holds and areas one could pause to catch their breath. As they got higher and higher the leg began to curve into a flat surface rather than remain at a ridiculous angle, though this also meant that they couldn't conceal themselves on the far side of the leg at all. Finally, hearts beating fast, they reached a place where to move any further along would put them in direct line of site for the ruin.

"Is everybody ready?" Gray glanced around, making sure he got a confirmation from everyone before they all stood and ran pal mal for the broken doorway in front of them.

200 metres.

She huffed and spurred herself on, trying to move as fast as she could, though her legs were slightly tired from the climb.

150 metres.

A flicker of movement drew her gaze to a crumbled wall to her far right. There, eyes wide with euphoria and mouth curled into a sickening smile that showed all of his teeth, was a man. A man looking straight her way.

100 metres.

Her head was whipped around as Lucy put a foot wrong and accidentally stumbled slightly into her side, just managing to keep her balance and not break away from the rest of the group.

50 metres.

She shot her eyes back to the ruin once more, but the person was gone, taking her confidence and breath with them. With a final surge of energy the seven members of the group flung themselves into the first room of the ruin, collapsing onto each other in a messy pile of arms and legs. Natsu, somehow lucky enough to land on top of everyone else, grabbed Happy up and held him out in front of his face, a wide smile showing his pointed teeth.

"See that? We made it pal!"

From just beneath him, Erza couldn't stop the shudder that ran through her. Had there been someone there watching them? More importantly, should she tell them just in case, or would that only cause a panic?

"Dush ebeyn hab a wktki?" Hibiki mumbled from the bottom of the person pile.

"Can't hear ya Teriyaki," Natsu commented, before suddenly realising that this was because he was sitting on them all. Leaping up to let them free, the group finally got to their feet.

Dusting himself off and running his hand through his hazelnut hair, Hibiki took a deep breath. "I said, does everyone have a walkie talkie?"

Erza reached back and plucked hers from its position in her side pocket, watching as the others all followed suit.

"Okay. Good. Now," Hibiki held his own close to his face, his voice resonating from the devices in all of their hands as he spoke. "Firstly, remember you need to hold it close to your face, or we won't be able to hear you properly. If you only seem to be getting broken words, ask the person to speak slower or closer to the walkie talkie. If that doesn't fix the problem, you're probably out of range from each other, though don't worry. Due to the fact that these are all connected you will always be speaking to anyone who can hear. We can also act as conveyors for other members if two people are too far from each other. Any more questions?" He glanced around, but nobody spoke up. "Awesome. Hopefully we won't have to use these, but, you never know." Re-pocketing his walkie talkie, the host gestured to the passageway beyond. "Does anyone object to us heading straight for the middle?" Another round of silence. "Okay then!" Hibiki was about to move out first when both Gray and Lyon each grabbed one of his shoulders, moving him backwards and into the centre of the group as they both drew their glass weapons and positioned themselves in front of everyone else.

"Let us go first."

* * *

She couldn't say how long they moved like that: Gray and Lyon a few steps ahead, checking every corner and passage before giving the all clear to move on. Somehow, she earned Ichiya's previous role of staying at the back and constantly looking over her shoulder to guard from behind. It unnerved her a bit -heck, _a lot_- for she kept expecting to turn and find him smiling at her from the shadows, eyes glowing. The minimal amount of light that managed to penetrate through the cracks in the ruin did little to comfort as well, just lighting everything enough to see, but not enough to stop the corners of every room from dripping with blackness that threatened to swallow them up.

The little voice in the back of her head was still annoying her though, begging her to confess that she thought they had been seen, though for some reason she kept pushing it down, kept silencing herself.

And only… If only she hadn't, for when they rounded a corner into a grand room and found six people standing there waiting for them, she knew deep down that it was all her fault.

They froze, Lucy letting out a small squeal as they all quickly took in and registered to situation.

"You see Racer, I told you I heard little children stomping around in our Nirvana." The man who spoke was rather handsome in a raggedy way, auburn hair sticking up in every direction. However, the giant purple snake coiled around almost every inch of his body was more impressive by a long shot.

"Guess so." The man to the right of the one with the snake let out a bored sigh, running a gloved hand over the top of his head, momentarily flattening the mohawk he had styled.

"Screw you!" Gray, already armed, took his stance with his knives raised, whilst beside him Lyon also shifted. "You've just saved us the time it would have taken to find you, that's all." Both brothers moved to step forward, but were interrupted by a loud outcry from the largest man in the room.

"Uh, uh, uh! One more step forward and it's bye bye, you know?"

"Shut up Hoteye!" the snake-covered man hissed, rolling his eyes at his block-headed team mate. This distraction though, gave Erza and the others the time they needed to draw their weapons. Glancing down the line, she spotted the man from before, white and black hair falling into his eyes as he looked at her in return. Just as she thought he wasn't going to react, his mouth quivered into a smile, tongue flicking out to run over his lips hungrily. She wanted to cut that tongue out for good.

"Isn't this quite the situation?" The dark-skinned man who held the centre position in the line finally spoke, rich voice echoing. "Do you actually plan to attack us, or do you need more… _motivation?_" Gesturing to a woman in white, he chuckled as she moved back and re-joined the line, dragging an unconscious body with her. The body of a pale woman with a cute set of pink, fluffy curls.

She knew something was wrong even before Hibiki and Ichiya reacted, but by the time she had figured out what and was throwing her arm out to try and catch either man, it was far too late.

_One more step forward and it's bye bye._

**"NO! DON-"**

As soon as Hibiki moved forward, the tile beneath him gave way, shattering to a rubble of stone as the floor caved in and the walls around them exploded into fire. She screamed, trying to catch sight of someone to grab hold of, but everything was a blur of blacks and browns and greys, dust blinding her as she fell. How long she was propelled through the air, she had no idea, only that with a harsh smack she fell to the ground, rubble crashing around her as the ruin collapsed.

Had it been 5 minutes? 10? An hour? Panting, she pulled her face from the floor, coughing as the dust settled around her. She was in a sort of corridor, one direction completely blocked by rocks and debris whilst the other remained relatively clear, letting in what little light she was using to see.

_The others! Where are the others!?_

Crawling to her hands and knees, she shakily stood and walked a little way down the passage, though it seemed to just go on without opening into another room.

"Hello! Is anyone there!? HELLO!"

Silence.

_No._

She fell to her knees once more, her words spoken what seemed like hours ago blasting over and over through her head like a broken music box.

_None of us will be alone._

"Please! Somebody! Is anyone there!?"

_None of us will be alone._

Her voice seemed to be the only sound she could hear, a pathetic echo the only answer to her shouts.

_None of us will be alone._

A shiver as the full impact of what happened dawned on her.

_None of us will be alone._

She was alone.

* * *

**To be continued~**

**Ah, another chapter done :) Hope you liked... Hope the ending wasn't too troll-ish XD *dances***

**As always, please review with any feedback you like :D I take it all I do! **

**Wow... For once I have nothing else to say ( ._.) Hmmmm...**

**Nup... I got nothing ;D Look forward to chapter 7!**

**UPDATE: Ohmahgod... Has anyone seen Hiro Mashima's latest Twitter pic of Jellal? It's literally him just standing there thinking about Erza's breasts. I mean... WHAAAAAAAA-? XD *doesn't know whether to fangirl scream or fangirl facepalm***

**ETGoddess out~! **


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